The Biden/ Palin debate had been billed by the media as a gaff-a-minute laugh fest. Truly it was going to be the best reality TV program of the fall, and perhaps that is why so many people tuned in. However, instead of a 90 minute comedy program it turned out to be the equivalent of two 45 minute speeches from candidates that had spent their last month in debate camp.
Now I am not trying to criticize preparation, because that is exactly what any good candidate or any person should do before they go into a debate. However, I would love to actually see the wheels in a persons head turning and some critical thought on display. That is the way that we have to do it at the local level of state politics.
The Andrew Scritper campaign also had a debate on Thursday night, and ours could not have been more different to the scripted VP debate. First, we did not have 60 million people watch ours. Second, the House District race had to share the stage with six other races that affect Jefferson county. Third, we actually let the third party candidate, Jack Woerh participate in the debate, because it is only representative democracy when everyone is represented. Finally, and probably most importantly Andy could not spend weeks preparing for the debate.
Andrew began to prepare for the debate on Monday night when his wife, Holly, Andrew and I all sat down to begin thinking of what questions people might ask. That was at 9:00 pm, after Andrew had already spent a full day at his day job working as a banker for Wells Fargo, and then spent two hours going door to door for the campaign. Finally, after having dinner, and putting his daughters to bed we were ready to start "debate camp". After only 30 minutes his debate prep was suspended for the night when his daughter Arianna woke up after having a bad dream.
Tuesday and Wednesday provided little opportunity to work on material, because of events, work, and family responsibilities. Therefore, at 11:30 pm on Wednesday night Andy and I agreed that he would leave work early on Thursday so that we could finally get some serious preparation in.
On Thursday we met at his house at 2:30, with just four hours to go before he went up on stage. I had prepared a 15 page document that covered all the issues facing out, community, state, and country. Everything from the Pine Beetle to Foreign Policy and everything in between. We got a good 56 minutes of prep time in before Andrew was called by his office. When you are one of the leaders you have to be ready to handle more than one thing at once.
6:00 pm
Andrew and I arrive a half hour before the debate is starting, but of course he has been solving work issues for the last 2 hours.
6:30 pm
The wonderful thing about Andrew is that he knows the issues backwards and forwards. Furthermore, he is able to think on his feet, and so despite the fact that he did not get to attend "Debate Camp" with Palin and Biden he put on a tremendous display.
Of course, I am going to be biased by saying that my candidate was the best. However, out of the 12 people that were up on that stage only Andrew put forward a concrete plan for what he would do in office. Only Andrew was able to lay out a clear vision for how he was going to help Colorado's economy.
Who needs debate prep?