Most political candidates try to control debates so that they are cast in the best possible light. They want to prevent their weaknesses from coming through, and - most importantly - they don't want to give a little-known challenger more press than he would otherwise get.
Kilgore has continued to pound hard on Russ Potts, so much so that he's starting to look like a bully. My intuition tells me that Potts' political leanings are closer to Kaine and will draw from Kaine's base. However, given Kilgore's vitriolic reactions to everything Potts, I can only surmise that Kilgore's polling shows that Potts is pulling his support from Kilgore. Likewise, Kaine seems to have embraced Potts with open arms, which tells me that both of the major candidates are in agreement about what Potts means to the outcome of this election.
Whoever Russ Potts is pulling his support from, Kilgore has made two critical mistakes here:
- He has publicly opposed including an independent candidate for Governor in debates. Bad move. Even if you don't want the guy in the debate, don't say it out loud. Defer to your people and let them be the bad guys. Voters really don't want to elect a guy who is stifling debate. Kilgore's remarks have only fueled the debate, mystifying even stalwart conservatives like Will Vehrs and John Behan.
- With his public remarks on the subject, Kilgore has given Russ Potts even more free publicity. The state GOP and Kilgore have both stumbled badly in dealing with Potts, giving him far more publicity than he would get if they just turned up their collective noses at him. They need to relearn the old schoolyard mantra: "If you just ignore him, he'll go away."
We've now had Accentgate and Debategate. At some point, we really are going to get to the issues, aren't we?
