6th Congressional District debate turns into Beatdown at the Ballpark

I bet I’ve written and re-written the title to this article 15 different times over the last hour, but there’s really no other way to put it. Paul DeMarco was just plain outclassed by Gary Palmer Thursday night in front of a packed house at Regions Field.

Now, before I go any further, I think a reality check may be in order — for myself as much as anyone.

Debates do not win elections. Don’t believe me? Ask President Romney. And on a smaller scale — like, say, a congressional race — most of the people who turnout for debates are activists and supporters who already have their mind made up. Combine that with the fact that even a massive debate crowd is only a sliver of the electorate and things start getting put into a little better perspective.

Debates can, however, lose elections. One major slip of the tongue and a candidate’s campaign can be reduced to the latest online viral video craze. Just start typing “Rick Perry” into Google and the search engine will immediately suggest completing the phrase with “debate.”

(Video Below: Rick Perry’s debate stumble — more after the video)

Neither candidate participating in Alabama’s 6th Congressional District debate on Thursday had anything close to an “oops” moment. But this is the first time I can recall ever getting unanimous agreement on which candidate “won” a debate.

It’s a little after 1 a.m. and I’ve spent the last five hours since the debate ended, emailing and texting with dozens of individuals who watched the debate, either in person or on Yellowhammer’s live stream. I have yet to find a single individual not connected to either campaign who scored the debate anything short of a clear-cut victory for Palmer.

Here are a few quotes that some local opinion leaders were willing to give Yellowhammer on the record:

“Our members are well informed voters, and had no trouble sorting through the rhetoric. From a Tea Party perspective, the questions and answers delivered during the debate leave only one conclusion as to whom we should support.” – Tea Party leader Ann Eubank said in favor of Palmer

“Gary Palmer had a clear command of the facts and the connection with the audience. Paul DeMarco lived up to his reputation of not directly answering questions and seems to have a fear of taking clear positions. Alabama Republicans are frustrated with weakness and scripted talking points from Congress. DeMarco had a bad night.” – conservative talk radio host Leland Whaley

“Paul is obviously well practiced at his stump speech and this race will be close to the finish, but in terms of plainly answering the questions of the 6th district voters, I don’t think there is a doubt tonight was Gary’s night.” – conservative talk radio host (and last night’s debate moderator) Matt Murphy

Here’s a brief recap of a handful of interesting moments:

Should President Obama be impeached?

Palmer: “If impeachment is on the table, I’ll support it… We need to impeach (Attorney General) Eric Holder, too.”

DeMarco: “I would absolutely vote to impeach the president if he was found to have committed high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Would you support a bill imposing term limits on Congress? Will you commit tonight to term-limiting yourself?

DeMarco said he would support a term limits bill, but would not commit to term-limiting himself without a bill. “I will not commit to limit myself, because as you look around the country, why, as Alabamians, would we limit ourselves while Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid could stay for another 30 years?”

Palmer said he would support a term limits bill and committed to serving no more than five terms. “That’s 10 years. That’s enough.”

Debate moderator Matt Murphy followed up and asked Palmer if DeMarco, who has served in the state legislature for the past eight years, is a career politician. “Not yet,” Palmer replied to laughs and applause.

DeMarco pushed back by pointing out that Palmer has “worked in politics” for the past thirty years as the president of the Alabama Policy Institute.

Immigration

Both candidates had some moments they’d probably like to have back while trying to explain their position on all the complex issues related to immigration.

Asked what he would do with the millions of illegal immigrants currently living in the United States, Palmer said that simply deporting them would be “a humanitarian disaster that would mark this country for decades, maybe forever.” But he went on to say that they must be “held accountable before the law in some form or fashion, and that means if you’re deported, you’re deported.” That left a little confusion as to whether or not mass deportation of illegal immigrants currently living in the country is an approach Palmer would support.

DeMarco refused to answer the question all-together, saying it “isn’t going to matter” unless the borders are secured. Murphy pressed him to answer the question two more times, and DeMarco reiterated his support for border security, but declined to take a position on how to deal with the illegals currently living in the country.

Murphy also asked the two candidates what they would do about the influx of child immigrants being sent across the border. Both candidates said they must be treated humanely, but sent back.

“What should the government do if the children’s home countries refuse to take them back?” Murphy followed up again.

DeMarco said the United States “shouldn’t send them to Arizona,” as he says the Federal government is doing now. “It’s not fair to the states around the country where they’re being sent,” he said.

Palmer got perhaps the biggest applause line of the night when he said, “I’ll tell you what Congress should do – cut off every dime of foreign aid to any country that won’t take them back.”

What type of guns do you own?

You can’t have a Republican debate in Alabama without asking a question on guns. The National Rifle Association endorsed DeMarco, but Palmer also got the highest NRA rating possible for a non-elected official.

There’s no question where these two candidates stand on the 2nd Amendment, so I thought it would be an interesting change of pace to just have them talk about the guns they personally own.

“If you want to find out what guns I have, come to my home late at night,” DeMarco said. He would not, however, answer what type of guns he owns, even after being pressed.

Palmer listed out the specifics of an arsenal he keeps at his house, including “some that might scare some people.”

Big crowd here for the debate. Hard to tell but there is. #al06 #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/TIYCsIjFEJ

— Madison Underwood (@MadisonU) June 20, 2014

Takeaways

Earlier this week, Yellowhammer published an article titled “The two fundamental questions Palmer & DeMarco must answer in Thursday’s debate.”

The questions for each candidate were, number one, “Can Paul DeMarco prove he’s actually willing to take firm positions on the issues?” And number two, “Can Gary Palmer prove he can be an effective messenger?”

The two questions challenged the candidates to overcome negative perceptions that some voters have about their candidacy.

“It is going to be up to the candidate himself to begin putting this perception to rest in front of the voters on Thursday night,” we wrote of DeMarco.

DeMarco delivered strong answers to some of the questions during Thursday night’s debate, and his supporters were backing him loudly. But by side-stepping or flat-out refusing to answer other questions, the perception that he doesn’t take on the tough issues only grew.

“Palmer has a tendency to get a little wonkish, talking over voters’ heads, and on some occasions he can even come across like he’s talking down to them,” we wrote of Palmer earlier this week.

He got pretty academic, maybe even a bit “lecture-ish” during a couple of his answers Thursday night. But overall Palmer seemed very relaxed and delivered his message effectively, even injecting some humor into the debate a couple of times.

The debate ended with each candidate being allowed to ask the other a question. What happened pretty much sums up the debate.

DeMarco asked Palmer to explain why he went to Washington, D.C. to lobby for a “pork project” that funneled money into an organization Palmer supported. I don’t recall the name of the organization, and the scenario DeMarco was describing was a little difficult to follow. But it was clearly a question that DeMarco was hoping would make Palmer squirm.

Palmer stood up and in about 15 seconds explained that he and several congressional leaders saw an opportunity to siphon money out of Planned Parenthood and into a pro-family organization, so they took it. The crowd cheered wildly.

When it was Palmer’s turn to ask a question, he simply said, “How’re you holding up?”

I don’t remember what DeMarco said, but the truth by that point was, “not very well.”

DeMarco will still wake up Friday morning as the frontrunner. In every poll I saw during the crowded, seven-man primary, he was not only in the lead, but was also the leading second choice among voters who were supporting another candidate. Nothing has happened yet in the runoff to change that. And he’d no doubt rather have a bad night at a debate in June than at the ballot box in July.

Palmer, meanwhile, will wake up Friday morning to some positive press as the underdog with some momentum.

It’s going to be an exciting few weeks in Alabama’s 6th Congressional District.

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Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims