Weekly Opinion Editorial
DEBATE REVEALS SOME DIFFERENCES!
by Steve
Fair
On Saturday, the Stephens
County GOP held their annual fundraiser, a Fish Fry in the Fairgrounds rodeo
arena. The largest crowd to ever attend
the yearly event listened to a gubernatorial candidate forum/debate featuring
the six Republican candidates for Oklahoma governor who have been campaigning
for over a year. District Attorney Jason
Hicks served as moderator and asked ‘specific’ questions of each candidate on their
primary campaign message and how they would fulfill it. He also asked a series of questions regarding
recent legislature and if what they would have done if they had been the state’s
chief executive-signed or vetoed. While
the six agreed on many subjects, the careful listener heard distinct differences,
which is the goal of any forum- to point out the differences, not the similarities
between participants.
First, none of the six candidates
hit a home run, but neither did any of them stumble. They didn’t attack one another and were
respectful of the time restraints. They
were adults. With the challenges the Sooner
state faces, it’s critical Oklahoma have a governor who has stable temperament
and it appears any of the half dozen can keep their head and not overreact.
Second, few voters made
their minds up watching the debate. That
is not the fault of the moderator. His
questions asked for specific, detailed answers, but for the most part, the
candidates gave safe answers. That is
not to imply they dodged the question- they simply gave very general
answers. Part of that are time restraints,
but some of that is campaign strategy. All
six referred to their websites to find out more information, but few in the
audience will take time to access the sites and look for specific solutions to
the state’s problems.
Third, Hicks closed with two
questions, asking if the candidates would support the GOP nominee in the
November general election. All answered
they would, but Dan Fisher walked his answer back on Monday, saying his support
for the Republican nominee depended on who the nominee was and what they stood
for. The second question Hicks posed was
if after they were elected governor, would they be back next year to keynote the
Fish Fry. They all answered yes, so it
appears the 15th annual Stephens County GOP Fish Fry’s keynote
speaker will feature the Governor of Oklahoma.
While the governor’s race
was the main event at the Fish Fry, there were multiple statewide and local
candidates campaigning and making their case to the attendees. With just 33 days left until the June 26th
primary, the politically savvy candidate understood the largest gathering of
Republicans in the state was in Duncan Saturday night and they needed to be
there if they were serious about their race.
The Stephens County GOP Fish
Fry is truly a unique event. Few, if any,
county GOP organizations across America can boast they plan and execute an
event this large using only grassroots volunteers. There is no caterer or paid staff to do the
myriad of tasks. Those are done completely
and totally by volunteers- year in and year out. The
debate was livestreamed and recorded. It
can be viewed on the Stephens County GOP Facebook page.
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