Supertalk FM had the three Republican State Treasurer candidates on my show for a one-hour debate. Lucien Smith, Lynn Fitch and Sen. Lee Yancy all came in studio, answered questions and then at the end of the show asked each other questions. (Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran, who is running for the Democratic nomination, is running unopposed, so we just had the Republicans on the air.) I moderated and Dawn Rayborn helped keep time. My producer Jim Thorne kept his fingers on the mic button in case anyone got windy; No one did.
I wrote the questions last week and the folks at SuperTalk developed the format. I’m not basing my observations here on anything but what I saw and heard in that hour. But here are a few thoughts about the candidates and the process of moderating a debate on live radio:
1. I have new respect for anyone who moderates a debate. Live radio is about time management. And managing candidates is like herding cats. If the candidates are as good at managing money as they are their time, Mississippi’s cash should be OK.
2. Lynn Fitch, Sen. Lee Yancy and Lucien Smith are all qualified for the job. It’s pretty rare to get three candidates that qualified for a position like that. Each are qualified in different ways — but the voters are lucky to have good choices.
3. Of the three, Lucien Smith impressed me the most with his answers. He did a very good answering a tough question from Lynn Fitch. He was the smoothest of the three.
4. All three were cordial on and off the air.
5. All three also agreed that the hardest part of running for Statewide office is the travel. All were going up and down the state like yo-yo’s.
6. Each candidate had two minutes per question to answer. Sen. Lee Yancy went over a couple of times (and in his defense, one of the times was trying to describe what he did for a living.)
7. All three seemed fine with how MPACT is being run and managed. All wanted to find new ways to market it.
8. I had a little over a minute at the end let, so I allowed them a 20 second plea for people’s vote. That worked well and then the bumper music came on, ending the show.