Yes I did. I thought Crist came across better as a straight shooter. Also, Gallager seems to be well right of Crist in his views on abortion, civil unions and stem cell research. Crist seems like more of a Moderate and Gallager even said at one point that Crist was closer to his Democratic rivals than to himself.
As a moderate that is tired of the Fundie Rights influence in goverment this carried some weight with me.
I have the DVR set up for the Dem. debate as well.
Well, I am a staunch Democrat but I may vote for Crist if he wins the Republican primary (which I hope he does). But I retain my right to change my mind later once I review Crist’s and the Dem. candidates positions.
I’ve actually met Crist a couple times when I was in college student government. He helped us write legislation which we tried to get through the state legislature.
If anybody missed it (I did, too), you can watch a replay at this site:
Quicktime format. I’m assuming they will do it for the Dem candidates’ debate, too.
I’m checking out the Crist/Gallagher one now.
Why? Do you find Smith or Davis that objectionable?
I saw bits and pieces. In the movie Gallagher will clearly be played by Gary Busey and Crist will be played by Bob Saget, with his hair appropriately whitened. Crist seemed more the the politician, careful to try and define himself as a Republican but also to leave himself likeable by a broader political demographic. Gallagher seemed more on the attack in the parts I saw, particulary going back again and again to try and paint himself as the “pro life” (antiabortion) guy.
I could live with Crist as governor. Gallagher still gives me the willies.
I once saw Crist happily waltz past dozens of people in a security line at the airport and get waved through by chuckleheaded, star-struck TSA screeners without stopping. (This was probably two or three months after 9/11.) After he got through, he turned and waved grinning to the crowd.
We have been familiar with his ambition-besotted slimyness for years via his career as a state senator. He is pretending to be a moderate this year but deep down is just another right-wing, money-first, pro-development, “my morals are more moral than your morals” scumbag.
Davis '06
I watched the first half of it. For some reason the video was not synched up with the audio and it bugged me enough to quit watching.
Crist was the better speaker, Gallagher seemed to be on the attack. In the opening statements, Crist talked about what he would do, while Gallagher talked about (negatively) what Crist would do. No, Sunshine, I want to know what YOU would do, not what (horrors!) would happen if your opponent was elected.
Crist does seem more moderate on the issues like gay marriage than Gallagher. I’m waffling now.
Gallagher seriously squicks me out. His advertisements are just awful – for instance, one of them says “CRIST supports civil unions for GAYS”. The way that whole commercial runs just gives me the heebies. The commercial actually makes me more likely to vote for Crist than for Gallagher, not that I’d actually vote for either one of them. Crist is just too “politician” for me. Otherwise, he’d probably be the first Republican I’d vote for.
Anyone watch last night’s debate? I got distracted by a good film (Mad Hot Ballroom) and missed it. Would love a recap and impressions.
I’ve been hearing snippets on WDBO. Smith accused Davis of being 434th out of 435 in terms of attendance in the House last term. They’re both opposed to off-shore oil-drilling, privatizing Social Security and Medicare, and the FCAT.
I guess they were pretty good attacking each other, much like Crist and Gallagher.
I missed the Smith-Davis debate too. The Miami Herald reports there was a lot of sniping but gives no indication as to who came off better. Does anybody have an opinion?
Also, has anybody pondered my “What if?” question about Darryl Jones in '02?
Not really, I just have had more personal experience with Crist but I conceed that he may well be just another slimy politician hence my reserving the right to change my mind. I can’t vote for him in the Republican primary so I will probably vote for Davis in the Dem. primary. Once I have only two candidates to choose between, then I will look a little closer at both of their positions and see whom I agree with more.
Well, I think Crist’s latest waves of ads lost me. I still hope he beats Gallagher in the primary but I would rather see a democrat win the overall race.
The republican ads are really getting nasty. “I’m a conservative in the Jeb Bush tradition! He isn’t!” “No, I’m the conservative in the Ronald Reagan tradition, so there!”. And the worst of all is I think a Gallagher ad that says only a conservative republican can be the governor of Florida. WTF?!
The damn shame of it is that Gallagher has traditionally been more liberal than most of the 'Pubs. He and Jeb haven’t gotten along for years. I have to assume that his present stance is something his campaign advisors came up with to “play to the base” since he’s been behind in the polls for a while now.
That he agreed with this strategy really disappoints me since I think he would actually be the better governor. He’s incredibly smart and engaged. Most importantly, he has a style of picking qualified people and then letting them do their jobs.
My only experience with Crist is from his stint at Education where he was a complete absentee boss. He spent most of his time out of the office and his Chief of Staff ran everything, chased off some real dedicated people, and basically ran roughshod over the whole system.
Primary’s on Tuesday! Gitcher last licks in!
Primary’s today! Any predictions?
I think it will end up being Crist and Davis.
Crist is winning the Republican primary very easily. My newspaper’s web page shows this right now (as of about 11 PM):
Governor (GOP): Crist 420,114 (64.4%), Gallagher 215,137 (33%)
And looks like Davis is leading in the Democrat primary. The same web page currently shows:
Governor (Dem): Smith 184,917 (41.2%), Davis 211,339 (47.1%)
(I don’t know how many precincts that accounts for yet, though)
It is now officially Crist v Davis.
And Katherine Harris won her primary, so that should be fun. We’ll get to see more adds casting Bill Nelson as “the ‘do-nothing’ democrat”.
Was there ever any serious doubt? I am excited that Harris won hers. That should be an interesting campaign.