Democrat Terry McAuliffe clearly won today’s debate. Terry talked about issues that are important to Virginians, like jobs, transportation, education, health care, and human rights. He had specific ideas as to how to approve Virginian’s lives with regard to these issues – completing the Silver Metro Line, exanding Route 58, increasing teacher salaries, expaning Medicaid, signing an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, and more. He promised specific actions re the current gift scandals – a $100 limit that he could imposed by executive order. And Terry presented himself as knowledgeable, fair, if enthusiastic – in short, Gubernatorial.
Cooch stuck with is hard right positions on social issues, failed in trying to explain his way out of the Star Scientific scandal (he didn’t know his office was litigating a tax suit against Star, at the same time he was buying, and failing to disclose that he was buying, Star stock?), attacked Terry for being too partisan (although he kept using the word “Democrat” as an adjective instead of “Democratic” and Terry has a lot more GOP supporters than Cooch has Dems), and expressed his hostility for Virginia’s working people are Union members (what is this, 1973?). He repeatedly attacked Terry for not locating that car business in Virginia – I am not sure everyone undertsands what “fiduciary duty to shareholders” means, but Cooch knows that a CEO can’t make business decisions based on his own political goals, instead of the company’s interests.
See the debate for yourself, here. Congrats @terrymcauliffe #VBADebate.