{"id":10603,"date":"2014-10-14T18:42:49","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T22:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/?p=10603"},"modified":"2014-10-15T03:33:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-15T07:33:00","slug":"warnergillespie-joint-appearance-live-10142014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/10\/14\/warnergillespie-joint-appearance-live-10142014\/","title":{"rendered":"Warner\/Gillespie Joint Appearance – LIVE! (10\/14\/2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve completely rewrote this article and have added a BreakDown at the end. This article is complete.<\/p>\n

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SouthsideCentral is LIVE! at tonight’s Mark Warner & Ed Gillespie joint appearance at the Institute. Be sure to refresh this page often for the latest happenings, photos, and commentary.<\/p>\n

Tonight’s event starts at 7 PM. Our LIVE! coverage will begin around 6:50 PM.<\/p>\n

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Let’s get started. Here’s how it works. The candidates flipped a coin to see who goes first, and Mark Warner won. Each candidate gets 28 minutes, and that includes a 10 minute opening statement. The other candidate is out of the room during that time. Questions will come from Len Stevens (WSET) , Trevor Metcalfe (R&B) and Bob Gibson (Sorensen Institute). Bob’s questions will be selected from questions submitted by the audience.<\/p>\n

600 seats were set up, and we’ve got about 200 filled. Sherman Saunders, Lee Vogler & Steven Gould are the only elected Danville officials here. James Snead & Jessie Barksdale are here from the county.<\/p>\n

Mark Warner is introduced to applause. The audience has been told there’s no applause during the candidates’ time.<\/p>\n

We’re underway. Mark Warner gets 30 minutes, then Ed Gillespie.<\/p>\n

Warner starts his 10 minute speech. Generic campaign speech as expected, throwing in the occasional Southside reference. Very little about Gillespie until one minute to go. Warner sounds tired, but he’s quite calm & relaxed.<\/p>\n

600 seats, about half filled. Sherman Saunders, Lee Vogler & Steven Gould are the only elected Danville officials here.<\/p>\n

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Panel Question one is on Obamacare. Warner immediately goes into “what went wrong”. Questions about the minimum wage, the ISIS threat. Warner turns the ISIS question into a Grover Norquist mention somehow. Warner’s pattern is 90 seconds on his positions, 30 against Gillespie’s. Question on Danville’s broken economy and how to add jobs here. Warner runs out of time and his segment ends. Warner seemed at home in this format and kept things going smoothly. All of his answers were the same answers we’ve all heard before.<\/p>\n

Ed Gillespie starts his 30 minutes with his opening statement. Immediately, he tries to tie Warner to Obama with that “97%” line. Ugh. Now talking about his five part plan for the rest of his segment.<\/p>\n

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Gillespie’s stack of questions are different from Warner’s and they get quite um… weird. There’s a euthanasia question from Len Stevens. Gillespie says state issue, doesn’t support the concept. Then he segues into anti-Obamacare. Then he backtracks and says that he’s sorry for the people’s conditions that Stevens mentioned in the question. I want these 4 minutes of my life back.<\/p>\n

Gillespie asked what’s the difference between his 97% claim against Warner vs. Republican voting together just as much. He says he’d support a bill only if it benefits Virginians no matter what party leaders say. We have an Internet sales tax question. I’m not sure that Gillespie came close to answering if he supported it or not. Ebola question. Seriously, a friggin Ebola question. Gillespie says he’s concerned that we’re not prepared. Wants to ban flights from ebola outbreak countries. Gillespie says he would only serve 2 terms if elected. Time’s up.<\/p>\n

Gillespie handled himself quite well but he was too damned laid back for somebody that’s way down in the polls. I wanted to see him aggressive and taking charge of the questions, telling me why he was better. Maybe he was tired, too.<\/p>\n

Let’s do a quick BreakDown…<\/p>\n