Blog reactions to Merkley/Novick debate.

There's already a couple analyses of the Merkley/Novick debate out there.

From Loaded Orygun - a pro-Novick blog - comes this:

To give you a flair of my conclusions before the jump, let me say that I thought Merkley performed about as well as I've ever seen him. Which was pretty crucial for him, IMO, given both his loss of momentum recently and the presumption that Novick would take him apart as he appeared to do in Eugene. He was animated and forceful, and didn't find himself lost in the weeds of hoary anecdotes and laundry list recitations as had been true in appearances prior.

Novick wasn't off his game by any means, and gave as good as he got, but Merkley's full press for much of the debate on things Novick had said about other people forced his answers to be a little more repetitive. If there was a weakness Novick had, it was an attempt to both discount the seriousness and contextual truth Merkley was trying to assign to the issue, while ALSO not backing down from having made the statements, and the reason for being "undiplomatic" at the time.

From Forward Oregon - a pro-Merkley blog - comes this:

From the moment the debate started, with Jeff Merkley rolling out the endorsement of Basic Rights Oregon, the most important LGBTQ civil rights group in the state, Merkley had the upper hand and Novick was on the defensive. There were no significant policy differences but the main thrust of the debate centered around which candidates style of leadership would best be suited for getting progressive results as a United States Senator. ...

Merkley overwhelmingly won in front of one of the most influential audiences of the state, the Portland City Club. The debate will get more exposure than just the opinion leaders of the City Club, as the debate will be aired all over the state on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Merkley was able to successfully indict Novick’s caustic and nasty style of politics while staying above the fray. Merkley, in front of the biggest audience of the campaign, carried the day as the only candidate to persuasively make his case that he has the experience and the temperament to be a dynamic and successful United States Senator.

Tom Turnbull, a Novick supporter, has this to say:

I enjoyed what I saw but think that they should both tone it down a bit. It’s getting just a little ugly.

Highlight was Novick laying into Bono in a semi-humorous way.

And finally, at Overheard in PDX, a note about why bloggers were annoyed at the venue:

"There's no Wi-Fi. I can't live blog!" - Overheard before the Merkley/Novick debate at the City Club today at the Governor Hotel

Visit those blogs to discuss over there.

April 05, 2008 Posted in elsewhere.