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About 30 people turned out to the Tompkins County Public Library Thursday for the library's first local presidential debate.  County Democratic Chair Irene Stein and County Republican Chair Mike Sigler faced off for an hour and a half, finishing just an hour before the Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joseph Biden was to begin. 

The debate was moderated by Assistant Director of Government and Community Relations at Cornell Gary Stewart, and Elissa Cogan, President of the board of the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation acted as time keeper.  Larry Roberts, Program Director of Finger Lakes Independence was on hand to register voters.


The evening began with a welcome by the library's Public Programming and Outreach Coordinator Carrie Wheeler.  Stewart explaining that Sigler and Stein would have two minutes to answer questions that were either sent in advance or submitted in writing by people attending the debate.  Each would be given 30 seconds for rebuttal.  In addition each would give a three minute opening and closing statement.

In his opening statement Sigler likened the differences between the parties to a baseball team.  "Republicans try to work on each individual player," he said.  "We try to make the pitcher the best person possible.  We try to make the outfielder the best outfielder possible.  Then at the end you have a strong team because everybody on the field is really good.  The Democrat's strategy is that they look at the whole team and they concentrate on team aspect of it.  I guess it's a matter of which you prefer.  I prefer the Republican model because it gives you accountability and I think you end up with a much stronger team."

Questions were diverse, ranging from why each thinks his or her candidate is the best for the job to how the national press has been handling the campaign.  Stein was asked whether the Obama campaign has lost momentum (she said it hasn't), and Sigler was asked whether Sarah Palin has been given too high a profile.

Sigler said that he doesn't think it is particularly high or unfair overall, because an unknown should get a higher level of scrutiny.  But both Sigler and Stein agreed that the national media has not responsibly reported on the candidates.  "The problem I had was when they reported her babies were not her babies," Sigler said.  "The problem I had with that was when people were calling Barak Obama a Muslim, or saying he wasn't born in the United States.  That is crazy.  I'd much rather debate him on not just topics of interest, but on his values, on the direction he thinks America should go in.  It doesn't seem like we did that."


Both speakers were forthright, and while they clearly agreed with the precepts of their parties they appeared to be speaking from personal conviction and observation of the campaign from their own points of view.  On a few occasions they didn't know their candidate's position on a specific question, but were able to point to positions the candidates had taken on similar issues.

Several questions had to do with the financial crisis the country finds itself in.  One asked whether the crisis had changed the speakers' thinking about the role of government in regulating the private sector.  "It has," Sigler said.  "I think that certain people should be under arrest.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... two hundred billion dollars gone!  As of 2004 many of the leading Democrats including Chris Dodd and Barney Frank were saying everything's fine here.  Everything's under control."

"My opinion hasn't been changed by this crisis," Stein retorted.  "I know that it's necessary to have regulation.  I know that it's necessary to have monitoring.  It always has been.  It always will be."


National security and the war in Iraq were also covered.  Sigler said that it is obvious that the surge in Iraq worked, but Stein contended that it only partially worked.  When asked what their candidates should have said but didn't Stein said she wishes Obama would be more aggressive in laying out problems he sees in McCain's record.  Sigler said he wishes McCain would talk more about energy and his strong record in bucking his own party to promote alternatives.

Sigler said that when McCain refused to be released from a Vietnamese prison camp unless all his fellow prisoners were released that it was a defining moment that tells a lot about his character.  He contrasted McCain's record of action with Obama simply talking about what he would do, saying that he and fellow Republicans still don't know much about who Obama is and what he stands for.  "I don't see anything in (Obama's) record that backs up all the talk that I hear," he said.  "Yet with John McCain I see the things that he's done."

Stein saying that she believes Obama will do what he says he will do based on his speeches, materials and his book.  She said the country needs a leader who has a new blueprint for the economy, who supports taxation that benefits the middle class, financial sector regulation, who will solve the health care crisis and protect Social Security.

Sigler is serving his first term in the Tompkins County Legislature, representing the Town of Lansing.  He serves on the Budget Committee and as vice chair of the Government Operations Committee.   He ran an unsuccessful campaign for State Assemblyman in 2002.  Stein has chaired the county Democratic Committee for 20 years.  She was a delegate at the Democratic Convention this year in Denver.

All in all it was a substantive debate with both speakers respecting the format and each other, and concentrating on the issues. 

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