According to a recent New York Times poll of 2,560 likely voters in Michigan, Democratic candidate Mark Schauer is leading Rick Snyder in the race for Governor by two points, and, judging from yesterday’s town hall event, in which both men addressed an audience of uncommitted voters, it’s not difficult to imagine that this margin could widen.
Here, if you haven’t seen it, is video the of the event, during which everything from the rampant proliferation of for-profit charter schools across Michigan to the recent scandals concerning the privatization of our prison food industry were touched on. If you just have a few minutes, though, I’d suggest jumping in at the 44-minute mark, where Schauer calls Snyder out for his position against marriage equality. I think it really gets to the heart of who these two men are.
[If you find yourself wanting more, check out my interview with Mark Schauer over beers in the basement of Arbor Brewing.]
6 Comments
It seemed to me that Snyder won by actually not embarrassing himself too badly. I would be curious to know what the ratings were? 6pm on a sunny, football Sunday. I hope those numbers are correct but it feels like it will be a low voter turnout. Snyder seems to have so many ad dollars for his lies. Schauer seems like such a decent, competent guy but he needed to bloody Rick up a bit more. Or at least I wish he would have.
I agree to some extent, Bob. I wish he’d thrown a knock-out blow, or done something to get a little more free coverage in the press. As it is, Snyder will likely outspend him by 4 to 1, or something along those lines, and it really would have helped if he’d said something that broke through in the press. With that said, though, I think Schauer did a great job showing the kind of man that he is. Someone else, I suspect, may have, for instance, watered down his support for marriage equality a bit, in hopes of attracting a few voters that may not like the idea of gay marriage. I like that Schauer went all in. And I particularly like his stance of education. In a word where most candidates would probably lead with the economy, and job creation, I like that he’s made education his number one priority. It’s what we need right now.
mLive had a pretty good summary of the “key moments,” I thought. Plus it includes GIFs:
http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/10/in_their_own_words_and_gifs_6.html
Eclectablog has a notes from someone who was in the audience for the event.
I definitely give Schauer credit for his unflinching stance on the questions like gay marriage. He is obviously willing to stand on core Democratic principles. I don’t really even blame him for not sucker punching Snyder. He’s just not that guy and, given the chance, will be a good Governor. Snyder fights dirty and has deep pockets though. It’s an uphill battle for Dems. Hopefully we get 100 % turnout from seniors.
5 days out from election day and Snyder support is dropping. He could be in real trouble.