I thought Healey had a victory of sorts tonight, because she exceeded the very low expectations that came after last week’s performance. She was less scripted, less robotic, and less defensive. She didn’t seem personable, however. Mihos was notably less energetic, though he did get in some digs at Romney’s penchant for secrecy. Grace Ross was articulate, and covered Deval’s left flank. I thought Deval was very strong on substance, and he scored a home run by noting that it was not effective in bringing in jobs for the Governor to be making Massachusetts the butt of his jokes. Deval’s just a more likeable guy, and he cleverly poked fun at the feud between Mihos and Healey. I doubt this debate influenced swing voters, but it may convince Republican true believers that Healey isn’t imploding. She is still stalked by the specter of Mitt Romney in everything she does.
Unless you can make the case that Kerry Healey hit a home run and changed the flow of the race, Deval won. If we can sit here and talk about the nice job Grace did, or how much fun it was to listen to Christy, Deval won.
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Deval was flat on a couple of questions, did really well with a couple of questions, and had a great closing. Healey made a couple of good points (technically) but did nothing to make people like her or feel comfortable with her.
Allowing the candidates to ask the questions, and providing only a minute for responses, is a format tailor-made for Mihos. He likes to snipe, and his excitable responses fall apart if he has to speak for more than 60 seconds. He does not look gubernatorial, however. His debate performances interest viewers in the same way that that “punked” show interests people.
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Deval is holding his own. His answers were on target, and the “OK, you two” admonishment after a little skirmish between Mihos and Healey was a deft way to show maturity and ability to stay on track and defuse tension. Given the format, these tiny moments of “rising above it” can appeal to voters much more than the substance of some of the answers. People probably won’t fall in love with Deval after watching a debate like this, but he looks and sounds like a Governor. He is at his best when he has a chance to speak at greater length.
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I did not see the previous debate, and I would disagree completely with the idea that Healey had a victory of any kind last night. She came across as defensive, angry and very cold. As another post said, she has conveyed no vision at all in this campaign. It’s all about 5%, but without any visible means of achieving that abstract, theoretical goal. If this was an improvement over the first debate, she is in big trouble.
I think she won the debate since she was the only one to really make a point and be clear about her priorities. I think this debate hurt Mihos since he was not clear and came of a little to crazy. I think it was neutral for both healey and Patrick.
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I like this format and I think one more debate with I think 2 remaining should be it for all 4 candidates and then for the last debate on Nov. 1st(i think) they should only include a candidate with more then 15% of the vote in the most recent poll at the time of that debate.