{"id":2779,"date":"2014-12-12T16:16:02","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T16:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theaccent.org\/?p=2779"},"modified":"2014-12-12T16:16:02","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T16:16:02","slug":"lackluster-debate-sets-tone-for-gubernatorial-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/lackluster-debate-sets-tone-for-gubernatorial-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Lackluster Debate Sets Tone for Gubernatorial Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forrest Milburn<\/strong>– Editor<\/p>\n

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In a display lacking the expected fireworks, State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, faced off against Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott at the Edinburg Conference Center in the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n

The Sept. 19 debate was the first of two debates set for this year\u2019s gubernatorial election and was moderated by McAllen Monitor editor Carlos Sanchez and reporters Ryan Wolf of Channel 4 KGBT and Dalila Garza of Channel 40 KTLM.<\/p>\n

The panelists focused primarily on border security, immigration and other issues that appeal to the state\u2019s growing Hispanic population, a crucial voting bloc that both candidates say they need to court if they plan on claiming victory come November.<\/p>\n

However, the opportunity largely passed by unused, with the candidates sounding more polished and rehearsed than one might expect during a contentious race.<\/p>\n

While Davis seemed to stay on-point and focus on Texas issues, Abbott often referenced President Barack Obama, seemingly trying to draw a clear connection between the White House and Davis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re here in the Rio Grande Valley or if you\u2019re in the Panhandle, you want to ensure that your public officials are abiding by the law,\u201d Abbott said, after being asked about corruption along the border and recent comments he made on how the area resembled a \u201cthird-world country.\u201d \u201cAs your attorney general and as your governor, I will ensure that is done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese comments mean something. They label a community,\u201d Davis said, directing attention to Abbott\u2019s question regarding his \u201cthird-world\u201d comments. \u201cMr. Abbott, although he\u2019s said he has worked on corruption in other parts of this state, has never referred to other parts of [it] as \u2018third-world.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The format also detracted from the effectiveness of the debate. While Sen. Davis was given exactly one minute to answer the first question, After Sen. Davis answered the first question, Abbott was given 45 seconds to make his rebuttal arguments before one of the<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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panelists returned to ask him a separate question.<\/p>\n

Davis expanded on her stand on immigration when she said she believes everyone on the road should be insured including undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Arizona does, Texas, I believe, should issue driver certificates for people who pass a driver\u2019s test and prove that they have insurance,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThat\u2019s the safest way that we can assure that people who are driving on our roads are<\/p>\n

driving with the right authority and with the right insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

On to the topic of veterans\u2019 health care, moderator Ryan Wolf noted in his question to Abbott that an annual report ranks the Rio Grande Valley as worst in wait times when it comes to health care for veterans. In response, Abbott said he would work with the federal government as governor to effectively improve the timeliness and quality of health care for veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is offensive that the men and women [who] have fought for our country are having to wait and now, it\u2019s been documented, losing their lives because of the inadequate care from Veterans [Affairs],\u201d Abbott said. \u201cThe men and women who serve on the front line should not have to be pushed to the back of the line when it comes to their health care needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott also went on to criticize the Obama administration for its lack of establishing a VA hospital in the Rio Grande Valley, an issue that Abbott said Obama campaigned on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is offensive that during his campaign, Barack Obama came down here to the Rio Grande Valley and said that he would establish a veterans healthcare hospital right here,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cWe\u2019re still waiting for the president to make true on his promise. I will work with federal authorities to ensure that we get the health care we need for our veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Davis also sympathizing with the community\u2019s veterans and said that she finds the veterans\u2019 health care situation unacceptable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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support for the death penalty as state law, but also suggested that he would work to improve the law\u2019s effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am in favor of the death penalty, and we want to ensure the death penalty is going to be enforced effectively,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cHowever, I think it is important that Texas continues to take a national leadership role in ensuring the accuracy and certainty of the death penalty, and that is why I worked with Sen. Rodney Ellis this last legislative session on an advance DNA testing process in death penalty cases to ensure that if a person is accused of a crime that would face the death penalty, we have the right person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate between Davis and Abbott was the first gubernatorial debate Texans have seen since 2006. Some Democratic pundits were hoping that Abbott would make a life-threatening mistake on stage, like Clayton Williams did in the 1990 gubernatorial debate when he refused to shake Ann Richards\u2019 hand. Some feel the gesture caused Clayton to lose to Richards by two points in the general election. However, Abbott made no glaring mis- takes.<\/p>\n

Abbott often spoke past Sen. Davis, rarely addressing her. Some fiery comments made in each candidate\u2019s answers, including, for example, when Sen. Davis gave her rebuttal to a question about pre-k funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy opponent has proposed standardized tests for four-year-olds to demonstrate that they deserve to have pre-k support, picking and choosing those which would receive it and those which wouldn\u2019t,\u201d Sen. Davis said. \u201cUnder Mr. Abbott, four-year-olds in this state can be assured that they\u2019d be subject to standardized tests. The only way they\u2019d get around that is if they hire a lobbyist, form a [Political Action Committee] and donate to the Greg Abbott campaign, because that\u2019s how he works.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next and final gubernatorial debate will be held in Dallas on Sept. 30. The debate will include timed responses and follow-up questions and will be televised on all major media markets in the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cRight now, [our veterans] are having to drive as far as San Antonio. We have a great opportunity for [fixing] this with the new [University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley] medical school,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI\u2019d like to see us work with the UT-RGV medical school to see if we can create a shared campus that pro- vides a medical hospital specifically for our veterans.\u201d While both candidates disagreed on most issues, they both support Gov. Rick Perry\u2019s deployment of troops to the Texas border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Both Davis and Abbott criticized the federal government for not acting on the surge of undocumented immigrants in an effective manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the federal government will not act to secure our border, Texas must, and we will,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI did support the surge of DPS troops to our border, but I also asked [Gov. Perry]\u2014 and what I would [have done] had I been governor at the time \u2014 I asked him to convene us in a special session so that we could hear from local community members what their needs were here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Davis and Abbott were also in agreement on their support for the death penalty.<\/p>\n

When asked about how he would ensure that innocents are not put to death in the state, Abbott reiterated his support for the death penalty as state law, but also suggested that he would work to improve the law\u2019s effectiveness.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI am in favor of the death penalty, and we want to ensure the death penalty is going to be enforced effectively,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cHowever, I think it is important that Texas continues to take a national leadership role in ensuring the accuracy and certainty of the death penalty, and that is why I worked with Sen. Rodney Ellis this last legislative session on an advance DNA testing process in death penalty cases to ensure that if a person is accused of a crime that would face the death penalty, we have the right person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate between Davis and Abbott was the first gubernatorial debate Texans have seen since 2006. Some Democratic pundits were hoping that Abbott would make a life-threatening mistake on stage, like Clayton Williams did in the 1990 gubernatorial debate when he refused to shake Ann Richards\u2019 hand. Some feel the gesture caused Clayton to lose to Richards by two points in the general election. However, Abbott made no glaring mis- takes.<\/p>\n

Abbott often spoke past Sen. Davis, rarely addressing her. Some fiery comments made in each candidate\u2019s answers, including, for example, when Sen. Davis gave her rebuttal to a question about pre-k funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy opponent has proposed standardized tests for four-year-olds to demonstrate that they deserve to have pre-k support, picking and choosing those which would receive it and those which wouldn\u2019t,\u201d Sen. Davis said. \u201cUnder Mr. Abbott, four-year-olds in this state can be assured that they\u2019d be subject to standardized tests. The only way they\u2019d get around that is if they hire a lobbyist, form a [Political Action Committee] and donate to the Greg Abbott campaign, because that\u2019s how he works.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next and final gubernatorial debate will be held in Dallas on Sept. 30. The debate will include timed responses and follow-up questions and will be televised on all major media markets in the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forrest Milburn– Editor In a display lacking the expected fireworks, State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, faced off against Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott at the Edinburg Conference Center in the Rio Grande Valley. The Sept. 19 debate was the first of two debates set for this year\u2019s gubernatorial election and was moderated by McAllen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4015,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[100,259,599],"class_list":["post-2779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-austin-community-college","tag-forrest-milburn","tag-the-accent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4015"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}