What I did today part 1: Drake/Kellam debate

Well, not quite. I started my day listening to State Senator Yvonne Miller’s radio show, which airs 6:00 – 7:00 AM on AM1400, WPCE. Anybody that knows me knows I am not a morning person. However, the Senator was having former first lady Lynda Robb on. In addition to wanting to hear Robb, I wanted to call in about the so-called Marriage Amendment. As it was, I just couldn’t wake up at the start of the show. I finally woke up enough to turn the radio on about 6:30 or so.

As I tuned in, I heard the Senator trying to explain why folks needed to vote NO. Since they were already on topic, I started dialing. As it was, I never did get thru. One call was quite interesting. A caller tried to quote the Bible as her justification for supporting the amendment. Anyone who knows Senator Miller knows that she can quote the Bible with the best of them 🙂 The caller persisted, and even tried to out-shout the Senator. Again, you got to know the Senator – out-shouting her is impossible.

Subsequent callers were all against the amendment. Honestly, it made me feel better about where this amendment stands with the black community. A good start to my day.

Anyway – after glancing at the paper, I got dressed and headed to the WVEC studios for the taping of the debate. Last week, asked both campaigns and host Joel Rubin for permission to observe the debate. Having been in the studio when another segment was taped, I knew that there were dynamics that the camera doesn’t capture, and not just during the breaks. All of the parties agreed I could be there. I said I wouldn’t write anything about the debate until after it aired. I was suprised when I glanced at the blogs this morning that the debate was going to be streamed over the internet. Oh well. The angle of my coverage – what you didn’t see on the camera – was still valid.

Upon my arrival, I saw about 20 or so Kellam supporters outside of the studio, and they were being filmed. I went inside and chatted with Tim Murtaugh, Thelma Drake’s campaign manager. Murtaugh is very confident in a win for his candidate. As usual, I cautioned him about the polls. He said he only believes the ones that the Drake campaign pays for.

A few minutes later, Kellam was dropped off in front of the building. Supporters waived signs, the camera capturing it all. A few minutes later, I went back into the area of the studios with Joel and Earl Swift, a reporter with the Pilot. It was then that I was told that we were not going to be able to observe the debate from within the studio where the taping was taking place. Instead, they had set up a media area where we could watch it on a monitor.

Both Swift and I tried to talk Joel into letting us watch from inside the studio. No dice. I talked to one of the WVEC employees and was told that WVEC would not let us observe, something about FEC licensing. Whatever the reason, the final decision was that of WVEC. So we had to watch from the media room. Swift left. I went into the room to watch. Also there were Jon Frank from the Pilot, John Bull from the Daily Press, a Finnish reporter whose name I never got, John Consgrove (who appeared in a later segment), a couple of photographers and various folks from the two campaigns. (Interesting thing: there has been a lot of foreign press interest in these campaigns, everyone said. They are concerned with two things: evangelicals and disgruntled vets.)

I was really disappointed to not be able to observe the debate. Watching it in the studio, especially with the two-minute commercial breaks, just didn’t cut it for me. (Besides, the monitor was MUCH smaller than what I’m used to watching 😉 )

After the debate segments, Murtaugh said Drake won. I didn’t get a chance to ask Drew Lankford how he thought Kellam did. I did ask Phil himself – who, of course, thought he did fine. I did not get a chance to ask Thelma. (She came in, by the way, while I was in the back with Joel. I later learned that she had entered the building thru the back door because of the Kellam supporters out front.)

As for me, well, I guess I need to wait until I can actually see the debate in order to give you my real take on it. If you missed the streaming, catch it Sunday on WVEC at 10:30am.

And we didn’t even get to see the Cosgrove segment. We were ushered out of the studio as it was being taped.

Technorati Tags: Thelma Drake, Phil Kellam