The final gubernatorial debate took place on Monday, Oct. 20 on ABC 7.
To be honest, it would’ve been equally effective to watch an hour of Pat Quinn/Bruce Rauner political ads.
The event was largely held together by the moderator – ABC newsman Ron Magers – who did a good job of keeping the candidates from wandering over time on the answers.
It was the answers given that The Xavierite takes exception with.
The night seemed to follow the same formula.
No matter what question was asked, each candidate seemed to always manage to keep their answers away from simple “yes” or “no” responses and always drifted into answering the question as they wanted it to be and not as it was.
Almost every answer from Rauner usually included that Quinn is either a “failure” or a “disaster.”
According to Rauner, Quinn has failed in the jobs department, in education and in almost every aspect of being a politician.
Quinn, in turn, demonized Rauner as a heartless millionaire only interested in serving the needs of the super-wealthy, busting unions and not doing enough to support the minorities in the state of Illinois.
Watching the debate certain members of The Xavierite’s staff were just waiting for one candidate to give a straight answer to one of the questions.
To be fair, our unofficial count of straight answers was one and it was when Rauner answered that he was not in favor of a moratorium on the amount of charter schools in the state.
It took some pressing by panelist Charles Thomas, a political analyst for ABC, but Rauner gave a strong and clear answer without flipping it on Quinn.
That hardly makes Rauner the winner, though. Ruaner is just as guilty as Quinn in ducking and dodging the questions.
One of our staff members favorite moments of the debate came when Magers wanted to address the fact that neither candidate really seemed to respond in the last debate when the candidates were allowed to ask each other questions and each candidate simply used that opportunity to deliver not-so-sly digs at one another.
No such opportunity was afforded to the candidates during this debate, thankfully. But, that could not stop the mud from being flung.
For another staff member, the key takeaway from the debate was that there was nothing to be learned from the candidates this time around and that they have ceased to be surprising.
We do not feel comfortable saying that there was a clear winner in this debate as that would mean that there were clear points made and that those points were defended against serious scrutiny and not the petty capitulating of preening politicos.
It is a shame that an opportunity that could be used to provide the people of Illinois with serious, concrete answers about pressing matters, but instead use those opportunities to take jabs at their opponent and spend time in the squalor that is mudslinging.
There is no man-on-the-white horse in this political fight.
The people of Illinois are caught between a rock and a hard place and frankly deserve a better execution of the deomcratic process than what they have been given this year.
Whether you vote for the “failure” Pat Quinn or the allegedly miserly Bruce Rauner, there really is no high road to be taken in this election.
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The Xavierite Staff
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