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Special Election IL05 Tue Feb 03 2009
Reflections on Sunday's 5th CD Forum
From a candidate's perspective, candidate forums and debates are a net negative -- and the more candidates on stage, the more negative there is. For voters in the audience forums are a mixed bag.
The scene outside the forum before the start.
Sunday's two-hour 5th CD Democratic candidates' forum, sponsored by North Side Democracy For America and DePaul Student Democrats and moderated by Lynn Sweet, was a mixed bag for the audience -- and except for a couple of the eleven candidates on stage, it was probably a net negative.
The problem for both candidates and voters is that forums with eleven candidates don't give the audience enough time to really size up the "real candidates" in a race (those with a chance of winning) and for candidates it affords them only enough speaking time per person to make an introduction and hopefully make a pithy comment or two attendees will remember, with the risk that something bad gets caught on camera.
This was the case on Sunday as open statements lasted longer than 40 minutes. In turn we heard from Frank Annunzio, Victor Forys, Paul Bryar, Sara Feigenholtz, Mike Quigley, John Fritchey, Carlos Monteagudo, Jan Donatelli, Roger Thompson, Charlie Wheelan and Tom Geoghegan. The "tier two" candidates struggled to prove they are worthy of being listened to and the five or six "tier one" candidates reiterated their records of public service, in office or otherwise.
The view from the cheap seats. Over 700 people attended.
Other attendees will do a better job of relating exactly what happened -- Fritchey's story about telling Rahm that he looks forward to running against him in four years, Ald. Pat O'Connor not showing up, Wheelan and Geoghegan's earnest and thoughtful policy ideas. But what impressed me was how absolutely unsatisfying the forum was -- and there was no way to avoid that.
The truth is that the 5th CD is blessed with an abundance of people interested (willing?) to lay down their lives for the sake of public service, and Sunday's forum demonstrated that. Yes, the event revealed its share of mooks definitely not ready for prime time, but really the amount of wonkish talent on display was impressive. Even John Fritchey, who has been maligned by his opponents as "the machine candidate," showed his policy chops on Sunday.
Through the course of the forum we never got any real discussion of issues -- that wasn't possible during the discussion -- but Lynn Sweet pressed the participants to make some meaningful statements. And we got them. Econ professor Charlie Wheelan demonstrated that he understood the bailout plan better than most. Sara Feigenholtz showed her understanding of human services needs. Tom Geoghegan made earnest pleas on behalf of the working man, and Mike Quigley reminded us that he's been a steadfast reformer in Cook County government.
And really, we ended up back at square one. Who the heck is really better for this job than the rest? Personally, I'm torn because I know three of the candidates well, and for two others I call the campaign managers friends. So, what's a political hack supposed to do?
I'm probably going to end up like everyone else in the 5th CD: On the weekend before the election I'll tally up all the endorsements, all the mail I've gotten, watch those final commercials and close my eyes and pick.
And that's a really unsatisfying solution.
Ramsin Canon
/ February 3, 2009 11:50 AM
In my experience, John Fritchey is first and foremost a policy guy. The guy's eyes glaze over when you talk politics, but talk good policy and he'll get giddy and talk your ear off.
Also, if we're going to nominate a "machine candidate", shouldn't it be O'Connor?