Good evening, Blogtown!
Your Mercury's Very Own News Team—Denis C. Theriault and Sarah Mirk—is camped out with a couple dozen debate watchers down at Claudia's Sports Bar on Hawthorne. There are many TVs, a row of high-backed blue leather chairs at the bar and very, very good food. No, seriously. The soup is to die for.
It's a hair after 7 pm, and we're waiting for the bartender to turn on the sound on the big screen so we can hear all the action. KGW quickly cut over to our two debaters, Democratic ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber and Republican ex-Trail Blazer Chris Dudley, and man does Dudley tower over the ol' cowboy.
Show time is only seconds away.
UPDATE 7:05 PM Dudley is asked about his qualifications, given that he's never, ever, ever had a political job. Dudley doesn't answer that, necessarily. Instead, he goes off about taxes, taxes, taxes.
Kitzhaber retorts and says "we don't have a lot of time for on the job training." Someone shouts: "Tell 'em governor."
UPDATE 7:10 PM Good question about Dudley's capital gains tax plan. Why should a trust fund baby should be taxed far lower than a working class Oregonian? Dudley doesn't flinch. We need to keep capital and revenue in this state, he said. People here snickered.
Kitzhaber sharpens the knife and sticks it in—in favor of Democratic interests. He says its time to give union members more jobs.
UPDATE 7:11 PM Now its Kitzhaber's turn to answer about his motivation for serving an unprecedented third term. He talks up his time as governor in the 1990s and hits a lot of applause points: women's rights, middle class, no oil drilling, etc.
Dudley fires back: Unemployment went up. Spending went up. Wasn't he playing for the Knicks by then?
UPDATE 7:13 PM Sarah notes this observation from Reverend Chuck Currie: "Why is KGW having Lars Larson on to provide 'analysis?' He's not a journalist or even an Oregonian."
UPDATE 7:15 PM Jeff Mapes of the Oregonian doesn't like that neither candidate could be bothered to get specific when he asked which three programs would you cut. And when he asks again, Kitzhaber still doesn't give a straight answer.
Dudley at least mentions one: energy tax credits.
UPDATE 7:16 PM Uh-oh. Time for Chris Dudley to tell us about global warming. "I don't know how much is man-made and how much is natural." REALLY?
UPDATE 7:18 PM Kitzhaber comes out stronger. It's a man-made problem. No more drilling. Cut back on fossil fuels.
Keep reading for more updates
UPDATE 7:24 PM The Camas question! That's an unfair criticism, he says. You pay taxes on every game you play in Oregon. And he mentions his charity giving. But he conveniently neglects to mentions all the other taxes he didn't have to pay, like on his investments. Kitzhaber has no response, but the crowd does. Laughter.
Now it's Kitz's turn: He's asked about his questionable home loan. He comes back with a Thomas Pynchon quote. Dudley says that "destroys trust." "When I am governor, that will not happen in my office."
Commenter Atomic says: "I'm glad I got here in time for the Pynchon quote." Kitz lookin' literate.
UPDATE 7:32 PM Oh, good. Audience questions. Tax reform: sales, income and property! In one minute!
Dudley says giving rich guys a tax break, on capital gains, will be good for business. "People don't want to hear about taxes," he says. "Close the libraries first," one woman just shouted. Sarah says: I think Dudley forgot for a second the name of the tax he wants to lower. "Capital uh capital uh I MAKE A LOT OF MONEY."
Kitz gets in a good line: "I'm actually going to answer the question." And he did. He almost said he wanted a sales tax and even mentioned the other two.
UPDATE 7:34 PM What about the kicker? Kitz says we should tweak it so the state can put away some money. Dudley says the corporate kicker, about to kick, isn't "a big deal"?! Then he says taxes again. If we had a drinking game based on the word "taxes" you'd all be drunk.
UPDATE 7:37 PM Dudley makes a funny. Asked about the difference between the two, he says "besides size?" PENIS JOKE. TOTAL PENIS JOKE. Kitzhaber calls Dudley another George W. Bush, meanwhile. A Bush who wants to take away waitresses' tip money.
UPDATE 7:39 PM Another Dudley hoops reference: Oregon is on a 14-year losing streak! (When it comes to jobs.) He also says "I'm not reducing the minimum wage. I'm not." Never mind he said he hopes to tackle it if and when he's elected. Sarah says: "When you rank 3rd in unemployment, that means there are 47 states better than you." No one told me Dudley was good at maths!
UPDATE 7:44 PM What is your method of stimulating the economy, a guy with something like a speech impediment asks: Trickle down or bottom up? Kitz: Put the money into consumers' hands. And let's modify the capital gains tax—if it creates jobs in Oregon. Dudley: "My answer would be both." Then he started making a lot of emphatic and strange hand gestures.
UPDATE 7:45 PM Spot poll (of 560 voters by KATU) shows Dudley ahead by 6 points.
UPDATE 7:47 PM Sarah says: I'm glad Dudley and I can agree on one thing. Death to the OLCC! And Kari Chisholm notes: "Another white male audience question [on the size of the federal deficit]. Five out of five."
UPDATE 7:51 PM Joke from the crowd: "This debate is a study of Chris Dudley 'looking at things.'" We just watched him nervously answer a question about negative ads, as if he's an innocent in running negative ads. Kitzhaber calls them "comparative." And then he rips Dudley for not debating and asks Dudley to meet him at the Portland City Club (where he'll be later this week, alone). Then Dudley asks him to go to Medford. Maybe post a missed connections ad on craigslist?
UPDATE 7:58 PM Closing remarks! Dudley won the draw to go first. He trots out all the tired stats about Oregon's so-called malaise he trotted out earlier and then said the word "together" nine or 10 times. Kitzhaber gets a little repetitive, too, but then gets serious. "We've got a great state ... but it's going to take a governor who can start on Day 1."
And it's over. Who won? What did you think of Lars Larson doing the post-game?
