First, we should thank Ed Harding and Janet Wu of WCVB for devoting their half-hour On The Record show this morning to the Democratic primary for Attorney General between Maura Healey and Warren Tolman, which is close and important, and as to which almost half of likely Democratic primary voters remain undecided.
But what did we learn from this debate? Not a ton, at least if you’ve been following the race. The candidates agree on a lot. Warren thinks Maura is soft on guns; Maura thinks Warren is soft on gambling. Needless to say, each of them rejects the other’s charge.
Did anyone “win”? Not to my eye; I thought they both did fine, and since neither is so far ahead that a candidate can “win by not losing,” I’d call it a draw. I’m still looking for answers to the questions I posed in this post, among others, and for that reason, I’m still undecided.
If you missed it, you can watch it at WCVB’s website (in parts one, two, and three). The videos are irritatingly non-embeddable.
This debate was on a Sunday morning, and I think OTR has done others. The Stonehill gubernatorial debate wasn’t televised at all despite being cosponsored by WCVB, which last I checked was a TELEVISION station. I don’t think I’ve seen anything in primetime. PBS doesn’t have ratings to worry about. How about for one week every night from 8-10 a debate for the contested primaries on WGBH/WGBX? It’s fine with me if they are taped ahead of time to accommodate candidate schedules.
MONDAY: Dem Govs
TUESDAY: Dem LGs
WEDNESDAY: Dem AGs
THURSDAY: Dem TRGs
FRIDAY: GOP Govs
They can even re-run them all in a back-to-back marathon the weekend before. I also hope a solid commercial-free two-hour block will give room for really delving in and not just fora that come across as joint press conferences.
I would also agree with David that neither’s charges about the other could really stick. I’m still unsure of exactly what vision Healey will bring to the office, Tolman does a much better job articulating what he would do and how he would do it, based on his experience. But, Healey has certainly shown herself to be formidable and I would be more comfortable backing her in a general than I was before this debate.
The real losers, as Christopher said, continue to be the media and the voters. The media determined this is a boring and predictable race and has gone out f it’s way to ensure it’s narrative won’t be corrected. Like Galvin, they seem ever so unenthusiastic and disinterested in getting voters to actually vote and participate in the civic life of the Commonwealth. It’s really striking how awful they’ve been, way more than in past years. Even David Bernstein, a reporter I loved reading at the Phoenix, has embodied the same bland centrist objectivity and horse race mentality of his establishment peers this cycle.
She pointed out Warren Tolman’s connection to gaming, and touted her experience as a civil rights attorney, prosecutor, and assistant attorney general. She held up well on Warren’s questions to her, and her style shows she has the chops to do an effective job. She was much more nimble on her feet than her competitor. Don’t get me wrong I think Warren Tolman has been an exceptional legislator and activist, but his input on gun control, and other civil rights enforcement was not as cogent as Maura Healey’s. Guess you know who I’m voting for. Warren had to be talked into running(by Scott Harshbarger) while Ms. Healey’s enthusiastically embraced running for this office.