If I recall correctly, Tim Kaine has been able to get Jerry Kilgore to agree to just one debate as they both seek to be elected Virginia governor in November. That debate is scheduled to start right now, in, believe it or not, West Virginia. (For the governorship of which I support Kilgore.) Because the Kilgore campaign has determined that Kilgore’s voice is a major liability, the debate can’t be broadcast, recorded, or even photographed. (Kilgore’s also a lousy debater, while Kaine rocks the casbah.)
To provide a service to the people of Virginia, we Virginia Democratic bloggers are working together today. Raising Kaine‘s Lowell Feld got up at 5:30am to drive across Virginia and to West By-God Virginia, where he’s got a laptop, WiFi, and is taking real-time notes. Likewise, the fellow running Tim Kaine’s blog is liveblogging. Us Virginia Democratic bloggers will be “watching” the debates through the eyes of these two, performing real-time research on Kilgore’s claims and blogging as we go.
It should be fun.
10:40am: The introductions having been made, Tim Kaine has started his opening statements, which are positive and about his record.
10:42am: I just noticed that Kilgore got nailed for illegally putting campaign signs on private property in West Virginia, something that his campaign has been doing all over, without any apparent regard for the law.
10:48am: Kilgore attacked Kaine within a minute of beginning his opening statement, “flip-flopper” and the like. Then he started tripping all over his words, so the tough-guy act it didn’t really pan out.
10:54am: Both Kaine and Kilgore agree the transportation trust fund should be used only for transportation, and until that restriction is put into place, no new transportation dollars. Kilgore, though, says he’d take money out of the general fund for transportation, too.
11:00am: Kilgore just tried to tie himself to the hugely-popular Governor Warner, the governor that he has opposed every step of the way. Kaine told him where he can stick that.
11:01am: We’ve gone through education and transportation — now the topic is abortion.
11:07am: Kaine smacked down Kilgore for his claim that religious people can’t hold office.
11:12am: From Kenton Ngo:
KILGORE CLAIM: Richmond City’s schools are second worse in state.
FACT: 78% of Richmond schools are fully accredited, an improvement of 36%…51% of Roanoke schools are accredited…63% of Tazewell County schools are accredited…30% of Buchanan County…44% of Charlottesville…what does second worst mean?
The Kaine campaign’s rapid-response team points out that there was a 37% decline in school dropout rates in Richmond between ’94 and ’01 (according to the superintendent’s annual reports for Virginia ’94 and ’02), and a 25% increase in average teacher salary in the same period.
11:19am: Wow, Kilgore attacked Project Exile. That’s Richmond’s hugely-success crime-fighting program, so targeted and effective that the NRA supported it.
11:26am: Kilgore accused Kaine of calling Virginia prisons a “gulag.” Kaine never said any such thing, but Kilgore would be wise not to bring up the topic of Virginia prisons. As the Secretary of Public safety, Kilgore oversaw and defended the routine beatings of children at Beaumont Juvenile Correction Center. Children were handcuffed, held down, and beaten into unconsciousness by prison officials. It got so bad that the feds had to intervene. Rather than admit that there was a serious problem, Kilgore claimed that the Clinton administration was just trying to detract from the “successes” of his prison “reform.” Oh, and Kilgore fired all his black employees and hired white ones when he took his job heading up the prisons. What a guy!
11:31am: Ha! Kilgore credited Gilmore for “tax relief.” That’s like crediting Genghis Kahn with “effective population control.”
11:45am: Kilgore keeps on talking about all of the free lunches he’s going to give away, as if the cash fairy is going to tap each of us on the head with her little wand. Just now, he said he’ll spend more on legal representation for indigent defendants. That’s sweet, Jer, but how you gonna pay for it? How you gonna pay for any of these free lunches you keep promising, what with all of the tax cuts you’re promising? More Genghis Kahn leadership?
11:58am: Kilgore has yet to breathe a word about a single accomplishment to his name. He’s been doing something in all these years in Richmond, hasn’t he?
11:59am: Kilgore complains that Kaine spent the 2004 revenue increase “100 times over”. I’m not familiar with our $140,000,000,000 in expenses in 2004, but I’ve got to say — I don’t think I’m getting my fair slice of that pie.
12:05pm: Closing statements are beginning. I betcha a dolla that Kilgore’s closing statement will focus on Kaine’s poopy-headedness and high cootie quotient.
12:08pm: You know, I figured we’d be able to research Kilgore’s various claims of his successes and the like. It didn’t occur to me that he just wouldn’t have any.
12:09pm: Closing are done. Kaine described a positive vision. Kilgore whined.
Well, that was lame. Kaine was strong, Kilgore was weak, Kaine was positive, Kilgore was negative, Kaine ran on his record, Kilgore ran from his record. Nothing to see here. Move along, folks, move along.