More Debates, Please

spitzer
Originally uploaded by dangunderman.

The door is open to the Governor's office, here, in New York, and Eliot Spitzer is halfway through it. His reign as Attorney General has been eventful, and he's been fond of taking on Wall Street corruption. Me likey.

He's a Democrat with balls. I was talking to a guy who'd met him, and he says that Spitzer is an incredible asshole, but even that doesn't much bother me. He's a fighter. Ballstastic.

By the way, Spitzer still has two elections to get through. In the primary he's facing one Tom Suozzi of Long Island. All I know about Tom Suozzi is that one of his best friends is dating a good friend of mine. Tom's got just over $2 million in the bank, to Eliot's $6.5 million. Meanwhile, the Republican nominee, a guy named Faso, has raised just over $1 million. Considering George Pataki, a Republican, has held the office for 12 years, this seems like very little money to me.

Actually, $1,000,000 seems like a lot of money to me, and if it were mine, I'd feel a great sense of relief. But in politics, you know, it's like loose change.

Suozzi and Faso have been written off. Spitzer is ahead of both of them in the polls, something like 70% to 20%.

But Suozzi and Spitzer had their only debate last night, summarized in The New York Times, and it made me realize that the only way to really learn about candidates is through debates. They're forced to state their positions clearly, while dodging and tossing colorful attacks on their opponents. But here's what I know now:

- Spitzer is pro-death penalty. Suozzi is anti-death penalty.

- Spitzer is pro-gay marriage. Suozzi is anti-gay marriage.

- Spitzer is anti-medical marijuana. Suozzi is pro-medical marijuana.

- Both oppose a timetable out of Iraq.

- Spitzer says he's not interested in being president. Suozzi admitted to having presidential ambitions.

- Spitzer owns an iPod. Suozzi has no iPod.

That's a decent amount of information. And neither of them stand where I'd like them to on everything. No weed? Come on, Eliot! No iPod? Come on, Tom! No timetable? Damn you, Democrats!

So I come out of this debate with the election a foregone conclusion. And neither of the candidates stands with me on all the issues. Elections are nothing but compromise.

But I wouldn't have known how much compromise I'd be making with my vote in September and November without the debate. And surely that's a good thing.