General Musings: Okay, the first debate is now officially over, so I thought I would share my thoughts about how things went. First off, I always think it's hard to declare a "winner" for something as subjective as a debate, but in terms of which candidate got the most airtime and took the most potshots, that would have to be Gov. Granholm, hands down. I would love to see a breakdown of how much time each candidate actually spent talking, because it felt like she set the pace and tone of the debate from start to finish, and had at least 50% more face time than Dick did. Again, how that is perceived by viewers is very subjective, but it just felt like she was in the driver's seat more often to me.

In terms of the "no rules" format, I thought the exchange was much more controlled and well-moderated than I was expecting. There were only a few times when one candidate tried talking over the other; for the most part both of them let the other say their peace, and then made a counter-argument when it was their turn to speak. I thought Tim Skubick did a good job of letting both Granholm and DeVos give full, complete answers without interrupting them (too much), but at the same time did a decent job of moving the conversation along so the debate didn't get bogged down by any one issue. I'll admit that I was thrown for a loop at least a few times by his odd segues into other topics (going from the state's economy to opinions about the Detroit school board at the drop of a hat, for example). Still, Tim and his cohost did a pretty fair job of posing tough questions for both candidates to answer. It felt like Granholm and DeVos had equal opportunities to defend their records and attack their opponent.

Now I'll try to run through the debate question-by-question. Hopefully I can read my writing on the notes I jotted down last night...

Question: Should lying in campaign ads be illegal?
This was a nice way of asking both candidates how they felt about the distortions and misrepresentations in their TV ads. The responses were pretty predictable: DeVos complained about the China thing (although he did admit that Amway made an investment there), and Granholm complained about the Honda thing (she did meet with Honda execs in Japan). What I liked about this first question though was that the governor didn't waste any time waving the AMWAY flag. She made a point to mention the company by name several times right off the bat. I tried keeping track of how many times she said the word AMWAY throughout the debate, and lost count at 12. I don't think I heard the word come out of DeVos' mouth more than once (if at all).

Question: How much control does a governor have over the economy?
This set DeVos up to talk about the 85k jobs that have left Michigan during Granholm's tenure. She shot back with stats about her economic plan, and was quick to point out the 240k jobs that left the state during Engler's last three years in office. Granholm brought out a theme that she would use repeatedly throughout the debate, that she is fighting for everyday citizens while DeVos only cares about his (financial) interests. The point was basically that Amway's investment in China might've been good for them, but it was a bad deal for Michigan workers. This second question was where the governor really started hogging the camera; DeVos spoke briefly at first to respond to Tim's initial question, but she had the floor without interruption for several minutes afterwards.

Question: Was the Detroit School Board takeover good or bad?
This was such an awkward transition into a completely different topic, that I kind of lost track of things for a couple minutes. To be honest, I really didn't know much about the topic, so it's a little hard for me to gauge their responses. DeVos did pivot a bit and started bringing up the SBT (basically taking credit for its repeal), and said that he's been out there in the real world working against these trade policies that have hurt Michigan. Granholm took the opportunity to point out the hypocrisy here, since DeVos lobbied congress and supported candidates who gave us these harmful trade policies. She also went out of her way to mention Amway's sneaky back-room tax break in 1997 (which is an important point, but few people probably knew what she was talking about). DeVos immediately said this was untrue (it's not), and that he went to Washington to "fight for Michigan jobs." Dick got a little defensive here; he was definitely trying to play down Amway's lobbying influence in Washington.

Question: Basically, why are more Michigan (and Detroit) families in poverty?
This one was directed at Granholm. She mentioned the struggling auto industry, and said how she's fighting for ordinary working folks by raising the minimum wage and passing the earned income tax credit for people making less than $37k/year. We're diversifying our economy, etc. etc.

Question: Is the middle class in Michigan in danger?
This one was directed at Dick. Right off the bat it seemed a little ironic to be asking the wealthiest man ever to run for political office in Michigan a question about how the middle class is struggling. DeVos did get a little zinger in when he rhetorically asked how the governor's plan could be working when Michigan workers weren't. Granholm shot back that we need to change our mindset, and said that he represents the old (failed) solutions of more free trade and tax cuts. She has asked the legislature to pass the $4k college tuition bill, and said that we need to create our own Michigan Promise (presumably, like the Kalamazoo Promise).

Question: Is the Governor indirectly responsible for the death of Ricky Holland?
This one really threw me for a loop. I haven't been following the Ricky Holland case at all, so I really didn't know what point Tim was trying to make by asking this question. To be honest, I don't think Dick did either. He said we need to make sure these things don't happen, and that the governor should accept responsibility for things like this (wtf?), but he kind of bumbled for a few seconds here before Granholm cut in. She said that mistakes were made and the department of corrections is being reorganized, but blamed the early outs offered under Engler for killing child protective services. This gave her a chance to mention the $4 billion budget deficit she inherited; basically, cuts had to be made somewhere, and yes, some of them were in public safety.

Question: Are there things you're avoiding to get elected?
Granholm had her daggers ready on this one. She ripped into DeVos right away for not releasing his tax returns, and was quick to bring up the Alterra story (which was originally reported on Michigan Liberal -- props to "gandergardener" for breaking the story). Dick said he just recently found out about the abusive nursing homes recently, which may or may not be true. Either way, I was a little taken aback that his only defense was that this turned out to be a bad investment, financially. Of course, I'm sure a lot of this stuff went over people's heads (Skubick had no clue), but I think Granholm was basically making the point that DeVos is so freakin' rich that he (a) doesn't get what life is like for middle class residents (b) is afraid to reveal his tax returns and (c) doesn't even know (or care) what companies his money is being invested in.

Questions: What are your feelings about gay marriage, abortion, stem cells, etc.?
Here's where we started to hear a bit more about DeVos' very conservative social beliefs. He's against gay marriage, he's pro-life (with the only exception being to save the life of the mother), and he's pro-adult stem cells (but against embryonic stem cell research). Granholm took the chance to say DeVos is way outside the mainstream on some of these issues. She said she doesn't want government in your doctor's office or in your bedroom, and can't believe that he doesn't favor abortion exceptions for cases of rape or incest. At this point it was getting pretty late in the debate, so this exchange was cut a bit short, but it was nice to finally get DeVos on the record about some of these issues. I personally would've liked to have heard more about his views on teaching Intelligent Design in science classes, but I guess that'll have to wait for another debate.

Final wrap-up
Again, I don't think you can declare a winner here, but my gut reaction (and yes, I'm extremely biased) is that Granholm controlled the flow of the debate for the most part. The governor and DeVos both got defensive at times, and both of them took potshots at one another -- I just think Dick was a bit more defensive on the whole, and Granholm attacked him more often than he did her. He came across as a bit robotic, but was quite composed and gave fairly succinct answers (although, those creepy, unblinking, beady eyes still give me the willies). Granholm was more aggressive than I've seen her, but was just as articulate and sincere as ever.

It ultimately doesn't really matter whether you agreed with what either candidate was saying or not; what matters is how it plays in the media (I'll have more on the coverage of the debates later).

Well, that's one debate down... two to go. Stay tuned, Michigan.