The Spoiled Children Debate
Governor JB Pritzker and GOP nominee Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) prepare before Thursday’s debate in Normal. (Photo: Illinois State University)
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OPINION
Did Thursday’s first gubernatorial debate change the race between JB Pritzker and Darren Bailey?
Short answer? No.
All credible polling shows Darren Bailey losing this race by 15-20 points. He hasn’t aired a single television ad in the general election and just sent his first mail piece. There simply aren’t enough undecided voters watching to change the direction of a race with such a wide gap.
The Bailey crew was crowing last night that they won the debate.
“We won the debate and winners don’t need spin,” Bailey’s spokesman proudly proclaimed when explaining why Bailey wouldn’t talk to media after.
Bailey surely overperformed expectations, but let’s face it, expectations weren’t that high for him. It appears that Bailey’s forcefulness and repeated interruptions caught Pritzker off guard. You have to assume Pritzker wasn’t happy about that after the cameras turned off.
Maybe more importantly, this debate nearly went off the rails. The candidates constantly interrupted each other, at times sounding like petulant children. Frankly, the interruptions and shouting and snarky side comments were distracting. They deflected answers, blew off time limits, and spent more time lobbing attacks than answering questions. These two did not act like a person you want in a position to lead the state.
Hats off to Tahman Bradley of WGN and Jennifer Roscoe of WCIA, for their pointed questions, pushing back for answers, and keeping the train on the tracks.
My guess is Pritzker comes out swinging hard when they debate again the 18th.