Chris Coons – Christine O’Donnell debate
Christine O’Donnell and Chris Coons went head-to-head in a nationally-televised debate Wednesday night at the University of Delaware.
The debate was carried by CNN, and moderated by Wolf Blitzer. They talked about everything from healthcare reform to homeland security and even personal financial problems.
Coons and O’Donnell will go at it again Thursday night when they meet for a second debate in Wilmington.
- Christine O'Donnell and Chris Coons.
Republican Senate candidate Christine O’ Donnell was exposed as a political lightweight last night during a U.S. TV debate.
The Tea Party favourite stumbled through a series of questions on economic, foreign and domestic policy but managed to avoid any major Sarah Palin-style gaffes.
However, she floundered when grilled on recent Supreme Court decisions – despite positioning herself against a number of them.
Asked which recent decision she opposed, she replied: “I know there are a lot,” but failed to name any.
She then promised to put a list on her website today after an embarrassing exchange with Democrat candidate Chris Coons in which she came off second-best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHgE0BvqcsY
Barbs flew Wednesday night in the first Delaware Senate debate between nominees Chris Coons (D) and Christine O’Donnell (R). Borrowing from one of Coons’s fallback remarks of the night: “There’s just so much to respond to – a minute may not be enough.”
The headlines were numerous. CNN commentary preceding the debate predicted that O’Donnell, who has been largely criticized for her questionable past and lack of experience, would succeed if she could make her opponent the issue. She not only did this; her immediate offensive approach forced Coons to do the same, resulting in a feisty he-said-she-said match that culminated during a discussion of the role of religion in politics.
O’Donnell asserted: “I would argue that there are more people who support my Catholic faith than his Marxist beliefs,” referring to a ’85 article in which Coons had called himself a ‘bearded Marxist.’ Coons brushed the remark off, saying it was ‘obvious that it was a joke,’ and that he is ‘not now, nor have I ever been, anything but a clean-shaven capitalist.’