Sean Garballey, Democratic Candidate
He presented well, was prepared and seemed at ease on the stage. He also gets some bonus points for being the only candidate to come by, shake my hand and ask for my vote (unfortunately, I don’t live in the district…). Sean stressed his service on the school committee and the fact that he is the youngest candidate. He did a good job communicating his work on the school committee but didn’t seem to follow up on why he kept mentioning the fact that he was the youngest candidate. Overall I thought he did a good job.
Andrew E O’Brien, Democratic Candidate
Andrew looked a little nervous and it hurt his presentation. His points didn’t seem as well developed. He did however have one of the most unique ideas. He suggested that the State paint streets and parking lots to reflect heat but more “interestingly” to also place advertising on them to generate revenue. Overall I thought his nerves and lack of ability to clearly communicate hurt him tonight.
Jeffrey D Thielman, Democratic Candidate
Jeffery like Sean seemed well prepared, at ease and presented well. He seemed very knowledgeable on the issues and came across as a very sincere person. He had the most engaging style on the stage and it seemed to me at least, that folks paid more attention to what he said. He took concrete positions on the issues and seemed confident in them. I thought Jeffery did a great job.
John L Worden III, Republican Candidate
Well if folks are voting on the person with the most authoritative voice than John is your man. He may have a lucrative radio career. John too presented pretty well but seemed to have time controlling the length of his answers and had to cut himself short on some of them. What troubled me most about John was his refusal to offer up his position on Marriage Equality and Abortion. Overall the fact that he completely passed on two of the questions left me with a bad taste.
Robert V. Valeri, Independent Candidate
Robert is the self-proclaimed political neophyte and perhaps that and some nerves led to a bit of a sub par performance. He didn’t seem as prepared as others and had some long pauses in the middle of answers. Perhaps with one of these under his belt he can rebound and perform better next time.
To me, Sean and Jeffery clearly stood out (aside from signage that looks very similar) and were able to do the best job communicating their vision. I didn’t hear any huge differences on the issues that would lead me to pick one over the other so I’m going to call this for Jeffrey given he seemed more qualified and came across most sincere.
You know you are a political junkie when you attend a candidates forum and you don’t even live in the district…
But a political forum in Arlington is lots of fun. Only problem with this one, the League of Women Voters (good government types that they are) set up a format and asked questions that were designed to be low-key.
What it was is that the moderator, a league-trained League of Women Voters member from Lexington, was superb and herself kept the focus on issues, not personalities. I was greatly impressed by her professional demeanor.