Live Blog Debate #3

Quality of life issues

First question: What will you do specifically to reduce health care costs in the state of Wisconsin?

Doyle: Thanks to everyone- wishes we had a congress has spent some time fixing health care. Allow people to buy drugs at the same cost state employees. Buying pool for catastrophic cases. Slams Congress. Deduct 100% from savings

Green: Thanks to everyone- health care costs are rising faster today than most other states. He has a plan that gives Wisconsin people choices. Tax credit for long term care costs. Governor Doyle blaming Congress, President, Washington. Wisconsin has the highest healthcare costs in the nation.

Promotes health savings account.



Second Question: Education- how do you plan on funding education.

Doyle: I restored $400 million in education. Blames Congress for education problems. Fund 2/3. Help with declining schools. Green in favor of cutting funding.

How do you know when Doyle is lying? HIS LIPS ARE MOVING!

Green: There was no cut by $400 million. Merit pay to Wisconsin. More money in classes. Taught high school in Kenya. Kids are desperate to learn. Doyle promised to fix schools.



Third Question: Crime rate is on the rise.

Green: certainly need to spend everything we need to keep people safe. Corrections policies. Help those folks to stay safe that run the prisons. Tough on crime. Make sure sex criminals are in prison, not on the streets. Break the cycle of violence. Wrote bill protecting women against domestic abuse. Disagree with Doyle releasing those folks early who are extremely violent.

Doyle: went back to question 2- I have no idea what he said. Prisoners back in the state of Wisconsin. Drug rehab for non-violent offenders. We need to continue to get better at this. Prevention is vital???? (perhaps we need some more officers on the street) But... How do we make sure that kids stay safe?

4th question: Ethics- Strengthen peoples trust in candidates

Doyle: Republican leadership would not let the ethics bill on the floor. No fundraising during budget talks.

Green: goes back to question #3. Franklin not notified about criminal in there area. Doyle promised he would oppose expanding gambling interests yet turned around and took money from the Indians to expand gambling. Opposed any governor taking contributions from groups he negotiates contracts with. (this was a huge slug at Governor Doyle)

Doyle: Whined about Green's congressional money.

Green: Retorted with Tom Barrett converting his congressional money in 2002. Accused Diamond Jim of rigging the Elections Board. Accused Doyle of presiding over the biggest expansion of gambling in state history.

Doyle: Keeps talking about a loophole.

Green: Responds that it wasn't a loophole for Barrett in 2002 and that Diamond Jim gets 1 out of 5 dollars from out of state interests.

(Someone had mention that Jim Doyle actually interrupted Mark Green. I was too busy typing to notice. Now that I am watching the debate for a second time, sure enough. Jim Doyle was trying to talk over Mark Green. This is a huge debate no-no.)

I took a small break on Question 5- Solving problem with access to healthcare.

I did not notice that Doyle blamed Congress for cutting Medicaid.(I thought Medicaid had been increased, not cut)

Green: uninsured people are going up. What people need is a chance.

Doyle: fight for healthcare. Access to Canadian drugs.

Question 6: State of the Wisconsin education- achievement gap

Doyle: Making sure kids of off to a good start. 4 year old kindergarten. Proposes smaller class. Give kids a good breakfast.(that's the parents job) Wisconsin convenant. Guarantee that kids go to college.

Green: Achievement gap is an outrage. This state will never get ahead until we fix the achievement gap. Huge supporter of school choice and charter schools. Doyle vetoed expansion of charter schools. Wisconsin covenant for years. Every person who works hard has a promise of a future. UW went up 50%. Wisconsin giving education to illegal aliens.

Note: Jim Doyle never once addressed the achievement gap.

Question #7 : Required energy changes

Green: conserve energy. Believes in nuclear energy. Our energy costs are highest in the Midwest.

Doyle: fault of the oil companies. Blamed congress. Renewables???

How can you tell if Doyle is lying? His lips are moving

Question 8: how would you improve the quality of our health care

Doyle: make system electronic. Need transparency

Green: Doyle raided 1 billion dollars that would keep fuel costs down. We need transparency. We have high liability costs. Increased liability costs hurts health care companies

Question 9: Tort reform

Green: worked to increased liability reform. Believes in tort reform. Reintroduce common sense and still compensated. Outrageous lawsuits- we pay, not physicians. We need to reintroduce liability reforms.

Doyle: Green is a member of congress. Green's fault. Vetoed only stuff that was unconstitutional. Lead paint lost in court.

Closing statements:

Doyle: Green should let me go last. He was joking. Washington has failed us. Balanced out budget. Supports stem cell research. Clearly Jim Doyle's #1 issue is stem cell research. This is the second debate in a row that he closed with stem cell research. (Does Doyle really believe that people will come to the polls for stem cell research?)

Green: Are you satisfied with the current path? Taxes taking more. UW costs are going up. Health care costs are raising faster that any other state. If you believe we can do better, vote for me. I believe in the people of Wisconsin. I am asking for your help. Make Wisconsin great again.

My opinion- this was it, the debate we had been waiting for. Jim Doyle was supposed to clobber Green on these issues. On each and every issue, Mark Green either held his own or he clobbered Jim Doyle. The ethics question alone, Green was able to clobber Doyle on. Doyle kept talking about Green taking out of state money that he could not take- Green plastered him when he stated that $1 out of every $5 donated to Jim Doyle is from out of state. They then moved on to the next question and Jim Doyle never responded to Mark Green's charge. People do not understand the specifics of the case, they just know that Doyle was making accusations. To have this question end with Green telling Wisconsinites that Doyle was taking out of state money, because Doyle never responded, Doyle looks like a liar.

Even asking the question a second time about the achievement gap and to have Doyle not even address the issue at all, makes Doyle look uninterested in the achievement gap. This governor likes to call himself the education governor, and yet one of the most major problems that we have in this state in education, and Doyle never bothered to address it.

Once again- Mark Green was the clear winner. Why? Because Doyle was never able to land a solid punch to Green. Not one single time. Even on the issues that Doyle was supposed to be strong on, Green came very well prepared.

I will break down each question and the responses tomorrow.

A special thanks to Peter from Texas Hold 'em blog that jumped in for a few minutes and helped blog.

Also live blogging the debate... Owen, Fred and Brian.