Debate, Debate, Debate

Debate, Debate, Debate

I was on the debate team waaaaay back when, which makes my geek credentials impeccable. I even went to debate CAMP which is exactly is nerdy as it sounds. But it had some pluses: it succeeded in recruiting me to go to college there, I met my lifelong best friend, AND I got my first kiss. So I wan't completely geeky.

In any case the speech nerd in me must point out that these joint televised appearances are not really debates.

That said, on with the old media coverage: Glover, Gazette, Register, DI, WCF Courier. No killer quote, no one knew Jack Kennedy. Nussle did try to claim he'd reduced the deficit, but apparantly that's not as wacky as liberating Poland.

The overrated one is readable this morning with a decent rundown of key legislative races. And someone gave Yepsen this tidbit:

House liberals don't want Pat Murphy to be speaker, and they are looking for an alternative. So far, no luck.

Register also takes Nussle to task for secretiveness:

The campaign refused to allow the Register to interview either Nussle's wife, Karen, or Nussle's running mate, Bob Vander Plaats for the Sunday story. Not hearing from Nussle's wife is a bit baffling. But her name isn't on the ballot. Vander Plaats' name is. Let's hope keeping him mum isn't an indication of how Nussle would run an administration if elected.

Press-Citizen covers the Loebsack-Leach debate. Focus is on the Foley flap. The manage to catch that Loebsack has a health care plan but kind of fudge the fact that Leach doesn't.

The Register editorial board also prescribes painful medicine:

Let's ask the government to boost the price back up to around $3. That's the best way America can kick what the president calls our addiction to oil.

Congress should enact a variable tax intended to keep the price of gasoline high enough to encourage the purchase of fuel-efficient cars and to help establish markets for alternative fuels. The fledgling alternative-energy industry needs a floor on gasoline prices to keep from going bankrupt each time the Saudis open the oil spigot a little further.

Judging by the way things were stirring earlier this year, the price where people start seriously looking for alternatives is around $3 a gallon. The tax could automatically rise or fall to keep the price at the pump at about that level.

Americans should be willing to pay $1 more for gas now in order to avoid paying a whole lot more later — not just in dollars but in vulnerability to oil-supply blackmail and environmental disaster.

Painful, yes - but a pill we absolutely need to swallow. (Aside: I got my bike fixed so I'm back on two wheels.)

Speaking of painful: Eagles 31, Packers 9. At halftime it was 9-7 Green Bay...