The Early Word From The Homestead Debate

The U.S. Senate debate between Democrat Mark R. Warner and Republican James S. Gilmore III has ended, and the early line from the pressroom is that it was a draw.

"Neither former governor scored a breakthrough," Bob Lewis of the Associated Press wrote in his initial story on the 75-minute debate.

Because Gilmore needed the debate more than Warner, the overall dynamics of the race did not change. But several things stood out.

First, Warner was far more aggressive in attacking Gilmore than he was expected to be.

Second, Gilmore was on a clear mission: make the debate about energy and offshore drilling. He had some success, and many of the stories in tomorrow's papers will note that Warner may have an evolving position on the question of offshore drilling. Warner made it clear he supports lifting the federal ban on offshore drilling and leaving the issue up to individual states.

Third, Gilmore likely made some strides in shoring up his conservative base. Gilmore took a few swipes at moderate Republicans, such as former Senate President John H. Chichester Jr., singling him out as the reason that Democrats now have the majority in that chamber.

Gilmore also sought to draw distinctions with Warner on the question of judicial appointments.

"It may be one of the most significant differences between myself and Mark Warner," said Gilmore, who held up Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and John G. Roberts Jr. as examples of good justices.

When Warner was asked after the debate if he agreed they were good justices, he said, "I might agree with one of them." He then refused to elaborate, saying, "I am not going to weigh in on individual justices."

But many of Gilmore's statements seemed better suited for a 1990s-style Republican campaign in Virginia. Warner went out of his way to try to drive a wedge between Gilmore's conservative views on some issues and those of Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee for president.

At times, Gilmore raised his voice in a manner that made some audience members uncomfortable. Warner kept his cool, but he kept the pressure on Gilmore.

On more than one occasion, Warner accused Gilmore of "driving the state into the fiscal ditch," while governor.

You can find audio of the debate on Richmond's WRVA radio's website, about halfway down the page.

Comments

"Gilmore took a few swipes at moderate Republicans" - seems as if nothing's changed since Gilmore left office.

A classic WingNut case of, Live and Not Learn!

Posted by: Anonymous | July 19, 2008 4:36 PM | Report abuse

These guys from "Virginia Politics" remind me of a United Colors of Benetton ad.

Posted by: Dianne72 | July 19, 2008 5:32 PM | Report abuse

"Warner ... was agressive in taking the fight to Warner..." ?

Tim, this is not the first time you've failed to proofread what you write before you put it in the Internet for WaPo readers to see.

I can see how that could happen once in a great while if you have a very close deadline for publication and you're writing a fairly long and/or complicated, neither of which is the case very often.

But unfortunately this seems to be happening all too often lately, to the point that your otherwise pretty good reporting on Va. politics is starting to look very unprofessional.

Let me know if you need someone who will do your proofreading gratis and I'll be happy to oblige. Seriously.

Posted by: Tom | July 19, 2008 6:01 PM | Report abuse

Tom @ 6:01 PM:

I can't find what it is you're pointing out, but...it's a blog! It's a pretty good blog, too. I would guess the full-time reporter/part-time blogger had a lot of things on his plate at the time of the posting. We still got an immediate review of a debate we might never get to see (will this thing even be on C-SPAN?), which strikes me as a good deal.

[Not to be too picky, but the third paragraph of your post appears to have a word missing, immediately following "complicated".]

Posted by: Mike | July 19, 2008 10:02 PM | Report abuse

Gilmore is a fiscal moron, and the farther he's kept from the state budget the better off everyone will be.

Electing him would be a stake in the heart of the GOP in Virginia, so in the long run there's no downside to the DNC, but a heck of one to the state.

Posted by: Nym | July 20, 2008 8:39 AM | Report abuse

Gimmick Gilmore is an embarrassmant to the rep. party and the state of Virginia.

Posted by: Dbax | July 20, 2008 9:11 AM | Report abuse

Tom: "...pretty good reporting..."?

Posted by: Glass House | July 21, 2008 1:17 PM | Report abuse

The most important part of the debate was when Gilmore cited letters from Warner's Secty of Finance informing him that Va. was going to have a large tax surplus yet Warner never informed the public or Moody's. He just let his tax hike policy pass in April and then posted a $324 million surplus in June.

Posted by: Bill | July 22, 2008 12:07 AM | Report abuse

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