Republican 6th Congressional District candidates Paul DeMarco and Gary Palmer will square off head-to-head in a debate for the first time Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham.
The Greater Birmingham Young Republicans are organizing the event, which is free to the public. It will also air on 1070 WAPI and video stream live on Yellowhammer News.
Conservative talk radio host Matt Murphy will moderate the event, and a group of three panelists will pepper the candidates with questions. The panel will feature ABC 33/40’s weekend anchor Honora Gathings, Marshall Yates of the Greater Birmingham Young Republicans, and myself.
The four of us met Monday to talk through the event’s format and to come up with a good list of questions.
As we met, it became clear to me that there are two fundamental questions that these candidates will be answering with their debate performances — two questions that cut through the rhetoric and the relatively minor differences in their policy positions.
1. Can Paul DeMarco prove he’s actually willing to take firm positions on the issues?
Two Birmingham News editorial writers posted a video last week titled “The apocalypse will happen before Birmingham lands the Democratic convention.” To prove their point, the two writers threw out a list of far-fetched, next-to-impossible things that would happen before the DNC chose Birmingham to host their 2016 convention. “Paul DeMarco will actually take a stand on something,” made the list.
Some of DeMarco’s television ads have felt a little forced because they seem to overcompensate for that perception. “I’ll fight for what we believe no matter what,” DeMarco has said in literally every single television ad he’s run so far. The campaign deserves some credit for recognizing that it’s a problem. But 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.
2. Can Gary Palmer prove he can be an effective messenger?
Palmer’s policy chops are unquestioned. After a couple of decades running Alabama’s top conservative think tank, he knows the issues inside and out. But the Republican Party’s problems in recent years have not been its positions on the issues. Free markets and free people aren’t going out of style (when the Party’s leaders actually stand for those things, at least). But the Party has had an incredibly difficult time communicating the principles of conservatism in a way that resonates with people.
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. Palmer’s campaign has sold him as the kind of leader who could make an immediate impact in Congress. Being a policy expert will no doubt be his calling card, but he’s going to have to prove he can be a great communicator as well for that to be a realistic expectation.
What questions do you want to hear your Congressional candidates answer? Let us know in the comment section below or by tweeting @YHPolitics.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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