And the Gloves Come Off – Tonight’s Gubernatorial Debate

You could feel it building over the last few weeks, as Ron Sparks and Artur Davis exchanged jabs on gambling and the truthfulness of the opposition.  It came to a head in Auburn tonight as a gubernatorial forum that also featured Robert Bentley, Tim James, Bill Johnson and Bradley Byrne became the Ron and Artur show.  Artur Davis fired first, when what had previously been veiled references to “candidates” who promise you easy answers became a more direct attack on Ron Sparks as someone who believed that taxing gambling is going to be Alabama’s salvation.  Congressman Davis asked the audience to take a look at our neighbor’s in Mississippi and see how much good gambling has brought to them.

Sparks responded by stating that he would pay for the gas to drive Artur over for a meeting with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and ask him if he would give up any of his casinoes.  The Agriculture Commissioner and Congressman Davis’s lone opponent in the Democratic primary also got in the shot of the night by claiming that “If I bring one job to Selma that will be one more than Congressman Davis has in seven years.”  I believe the line to be patently false (based on my own knowledge of what Congressman Davis has done to bring resources to community organizations in the Black Belt), and expect the campaign to confirm as much, but still a good jab from Mr. Sparks.

I expect the exchanges tonight to simply increase the rancor between the two campaigns.  The only chance Sparks has is to pummel Davis with charges that he has no plan to raise revenue or he’s trying to hide whatever the plan is until after he’s elected.  And Davis has no choice but to respond with challenges to Sparks own veracity, lest he look weak, the classic dilemna.

On the Republican side, Bradley Byrne once again showed himself to be the most moderate voice of the group, talking about the need for a new constitution (but not a convention) and how to get rid of the grocery tax (without increasing other taxes).  Bentley, Johnson and James all continued to emphasize their conservative credentials and attempted to outflank each other on almost every issue, though there were many moments of consensus as well. 

No candidate faltered in any noticeable way, but the questions that were asked were also quite softball, nothing unexpected at all.  But I cannot wait until the campaign responses come out tomorrow, stay tuned…

Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Related posts:

1. Financial Reports in for Alabama Governor’s Race Well, the remaining financial reports in the Alabama governor’s...
2. TWAY Poll Results: Byrne Running Best Campaign The results are in.  The question was: Who is...
3. Poll Results: When the Alabama Governor’s Field Shrinks, Who Will Be Out? As we enter 2010, there are nine candidates for...
4. Latest Social Media Poll Results and Updating the Twitter Scorecard The latest TWAY poll results are in.  This time,...
5. The Alabama Gubernatorial Candidates Talk About Religion The Mobile Press-Register received some very interesting responses from a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.