Reminds Me Of Old Times - My Recap of the 7th CD Debate

Can you believe it? All three candidates running in the 7th CD Special Election finally showed up in the same place at the same time for a serious debate of the issues. Democrat Andre Carson, who announced he wouldn’t show the day of the event, Republican Jon Elrod and Libertarian Sean Shepard all got together at the Jesus Metropolitan Community Church at a debate hosted by Indiana Equality. Seems this was a setting more to Andre’s liking rather than a simple neighborhood association I guess. At least it would appear it was a more friendly crowd.

But made the event seem like old times to me was that it reminded me of 2004 when I worked on Andy Horning’s Republican campaign for congress in the 7th CD. It’s hard to say the crowd wasn’t stacked heavily with union people in addition to the typical numbers that follow a Carson anywhere a debate takes place. They were loud, supportive and came complete with Wilson Allen and his camera. Yard signs lined the parking lot of JMCC in support of Carson dressed in red. The only thing that seemed missing was the “I ‘heart’ Julia” from the signs.

There was a big difference however. We actually had a debate tonight. Andre, Jon and Sean all articulated their positions fairly well on the issues posed. Now before you think that all the questions had to do with LGBT issues, they didn’t. But all the early questions did, but that was to be expected based on who hosted the event. It was interesting to get the candidates views on the issues, be they LGBT issues or not.

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Despite the fact I got there late (I thought the debate was at 7:30 not 7:00) I made it in time to catch all three opening statements. Andre led off giving a fitting, but very much politicized, tribute to the legacy of his grandmother. Surprised? Didn’t think so. He basically summed up his entire platform in his opening statement; get out of Iraq immediately (becomes a theme for the night), is supportive of universal healthcare and penalizing companies who move their jobs overseas. Did I mention he stacked the room?

Jon’s statement was filled with the same information that you and I are used to hearing; fiscal conservatism and constituent services. But since this was a debate and not a Carson rally, there were people there who hadn’t heard about Jon’s background and his platform. He wasn’t as polished as before, but part of that may have been nerves.

Sean started off, by agreeing with Andre in that we shouldn’t have gone into Iraq. He says we need strong and bold leadership in Washington, but acknowledges that our elected leaders in DC aren’t taking us in the right direction. He alluded to the fact that we shouldn’t send the same Republicans and the same Democrats to Washington when they are part of the problem. He wants to focus on jobs and education and making sure our kids are getting the proper education they need to survive in life and not get taken by predatory lenders.

Then we got to the issues.

In the beginning the questions ranged from talking about domestic partner benefits (Domestic Partner Equality Act), to the role of their personal faiths in how they would lead, to repealing the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, to the support of EDNA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) and to whether they believe marriage is between one man and one woman.

On these issues, the candidates came across as you would expect with Andre taking liberal stances, Elrod taking fairly moderate stances and Sean taking the conservative, but a government taking a more hands off approach.  One of the more telling moments of this portion of the discussion was when the candidates were asked what role their religion would play in the choices they made in congress.  Andre took it as a bigotry question, but said that he condemns any form of bigotry regardless of religious teaching.  For Jon it was a separation of church and state issue while Sean made the comment that stuck out most to me.  He said that he also condemns bigotry, but that once we tell people what they can and can’t say or do in religious matters we’re heading down a very dangerous path.

In the matter of foreign policy, they all favored getting out of Iraq, some just supported sooner rather than later.  Andre wanted immediate withdrawal, while Jon and Sean favored a more deliberate approach that included working with the Generals on the ground.

In the areas of domestic and social policy, Andre carried the water of the Democrat line.  While Jon and Sean differed on some issues.  Both took pro-life stances and both favored marriage between a man and woman, they both maintained that it was an issue of the church and that the government should stay out of people’s homes.

The Ron Paul moment of the night came when Sean said he favored the elimination of the Department of Education.  Needless to say, that didn’t go over too well with people in the room.

Other issues were discussed, but the battery in my laptop started to die.

But in closing, it was a very entertaining and educational evening.  It many ways it reminded me of past debates I’ve witnessed that involved the “Carson Machine”.  The difference here was that Andre was able to articulate his stances on issues better than his grandmother.  Where he missed the mark, however, was that Jon Elrod did leave him a few opportunities to capitalize on that he missed.  Julia Carson never would have missed those.  But maybe that just comes with experience.  Jon was certainly able to escape from those moments unscathed.  As performance goes, all three candidates came across very well.  And the undecided voters who did show up were able to leave with a better understanding of where the candidates stood.  It would be fair to say that all three left with new converts to their campaigns.