Wrap-up of 1st Congressional Debate
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
There were no clear winners in the first debate of the Congressional candidates seeking to replace Congressman Patrick Kennedy as Rhode Island's 1st District Congressman.
However, newcomer Anthony Gemma proved to be the consensus loser of this first debate, hosted by WPRI, at the PPAC.
Gemma began the night by offering a nervous and unfocused opening statement. Then, after moderator Tim White challenged him on his statement supporting the privatization of Social Security, Gemma responded that, in the intervening two weeks, he had "done his homework" and changed his mind. Finally, on two issues that are central to Democratic primary voters, Gemma stated that he was against a woman's right to choose and a worker's right to organize a union free of employer intimidation.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIn the "gotcha" moment of tonight's debate, moderator White challenged Gemma on his $1k contribution to Republican Governor Don Carcieri. Gemma defended his contribution to Carcieri citing Carcieri's work on separation of powers. White interrupted and noted that separation of powers passed in 2004 and Gemma's donation occurred in 2006. Gemma could not account for the two year time difference.
Besides Gemma's pitfalls, the other 3 candidates stayed largely on message.
Providence Mayor David Cicilline, considered the favorite in this race, stayed on message - calling for a national manufacturing policy and a swift withdrawal from American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was directly attacked only once in this debate by Bill Lynch who questioned Cicilline's role in several failing schools in Providence. Cicilline responded that he has taken a suffering urban school district and developed several strong models of improving urban education - including the city's afterschool program.
For his own part, Lynch had a strong debate and separated himself from his opponents - in a conservative way - by stating that he opposed civilian trials for alleged terrorists and supported a death penalty for those convicted of terrorist activity. While this was not a position favored by many Democrats, Lynch offered some strong Democratic language in defending Patrick Kennedy from the attacks that were launched this past year by Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin.
Providence State Representative David Segal offered a strong progressive message, including a passionate rebuke of the firing of the Central Falls teachers, the economic policies that have led to unabated foreclosure and unemployment rates in Rhode Island and the nation and corporate controlled elections that have put special interests before the needs of working families. He was the only candidate on stage who stated that he would vote against funding the Wars unless it was funding to bring the troops home. In fact, many observers noted their surprise in Segal's strong showing against his supposedly more polished opponents.
This debate was clearly a "feeling-out" session for the candidates and Primary voters can expect to see more fireworks as the Primary heats up in the next 8 weeks leading up to the September 14th Democratic Primary.
