October 13, 2016 12:22 PM UTC

Debate Diary: Coffman and Carroll Throw Down on Wednesday

• 1 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Republican Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) and Democratic state Sen. Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) took part in their first non-Spanish language debate on Wednesday, sponsored by Channel 4, Colorado Public Television (CPT) and KOA News Radio.

Wednesday’s debate was live-streamed online, and the video is still available on YouTube, so we’re watching it ourselves and providing you the blow-by-blow details. This is just a 30-minute debate, so it will go fast. Let’s get started…

*NOTE: The most current update appears at the top of the page. As always, unless it is in direct quotes, consider all statements paraphrased in the interest of time.  

FINAL THOUGHTS
This was not the Bennet beatdown of Darryl Glenn that we saw on Tuesday, but it would be hard to come away from this debate thinking that Coffman looked better than Carroll. Coffman mumbled a lot and interrupted everyone, and he appeared jittery and nervous while never really saying anything specific about any one issue. Carroll, on the other hand, was clear and concise and demonstrated a real knowledge of policy issues. Any undecided voter who watched this debate would certainly be voting for Morgan Carroll now.

24:00
Closing statements.

Carroll goes first. Says Congress is broken and dysfunctional. “We need change,” she says. “People are frustrated with a do-nothing Congress more interested in scoring political points and bashing the President rather than working on urgent issues on their behalf.”

Now Coffman, who mentions (as always) that he is a Marine. Says he used his military background to challenge the Department of Defense on wasteful spending. Says national debt is our greatest threat in this country.

“I will continue to challenge whoever is in the White House, regardless of Party,” says Coffman. Vote for me, and I won’t work with anyone!

23:00
Sondermann asks a question that might be the dumbest we have heard in a debate in some time. “I’ll give you three choices: Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, or All Lives Matter?“

Carroll answers that Black Lives and Blue Lives matter, and that there is definitely a disconnect in our communities in terms of police brutality. She adds that it is never okay to attack a police officer.

Coffman mumbles “All Lives Matter” (we think that’s what he said), then notes that he was endorsed by Aurora’s police union.

20:15
Shaun Boyd asks question about debt-free college programs.

Coffman goes first, talks mostly about skills-based training programs. Coffman then essentially calls college useless, saying that people study things that don’t lead to a good-paying job.

Carroll calls student debt one of the leading economic crises in America. “There’s no reason that Congress can’t vote to lower the interest rate on college loans,” says Carroll, before pointing out that Coffman has voted against lowering interest rates and against increasing grant programs.

“Congress’s failure to act here is nearly unforgivable,” she says. “We don’t need to make more money off of students than we make off of banks.”

17:00
Next question about social security. 

Carroll goes first and suggests that we should be open to changing the cap on social security but must continue to grow the program because it has been very helpful to Colorado’s economy.

Coffman then talks about social security being divided into two parts: One part for senior citizens and another for medical care. Coffman is the same guy, you might recall, who has called social security “a ponzi scheme.”

Coffman says there is “a lot of abuse” with social security. Carroll replies that there are a lot of people involved with social security and it is not a big conspiracy to steal money. “What I’m hearing is that Mike Coffman would like to gut the requirements for disabilities in social security.”

Coffman does not disagree, instead saying that he will work to make the program more efficient.

14:30
Sondermann takes three days to ask a question about the federal deficit, with Coffman mumbling, “Uh, huh, yeah, right” the whole time.

Coffman starts out by saying he has been ranked the 25th most bipartisan member of congress by the [Lugar?] Center, which is how he moves into talking about being part of the fake “No Labels” coalition.

Coffman concludes by saying that the national debt is the single greatest threat to our national security. If you were waiting for Coffman to add something specific…well, keep waiting.

Carroll says that her experience in the legislature shows that it is possible to run a bipartisan balanced budget every year. She talks about tax equity and the middle class tax burden, but also adds that spending needs to be reduced through yearly benchmarks and closing loopholes.

Coffman blurts out, “I’m glad that Morgan Carroll agrees to a balanced budget amendment in the Constitution, because that’s what the state of Colorado has. Thank you.” Coffman then makes an exaggerated, evil-villain sounding laugh.

Mike Coffman is like your weird drunk uncle on Thanksgiving.

12:00
Coffman tries to switch topics to construction defects legislation, making a strange point about how Carroll’s efforts to stand up for consumers hurts big developers. Uh…

Carroll responds with another zinger: “You don’t solve the problem of affordable housing by making it substandard and defective.”

Coffman starts talking about how rents and home prices are rising in Colorado, which is apparently all Morgan Carroll’s fault.

9:45
Shaun Boyd asks a strangely passive-aggressive question. She mentions that she does fact-checks on campaign advertisements, then invites the candidates to broadly comment on the authenticity of the ads coming from each campaign. In other words, Boyd just asked, Take a few minutes to berate each other.

Carroll goes first, talking about how her ads are focusing on who she is and why she is running, while also making comparisons between Coffman and Trump. “Things that have actually been done and said by Mike Coffman and Donald Trump.”

This does not make Coffman happy. “She has to make it about Donald Trump,” says Coffman with an angry stutter. “The argument that one veteran in the Colorado delegation is one too many…and six lawyers is not enough…and somehow six out of nine…we really need seven out of nine…and not only do we need another lawyer but we need a personal injury lawyer…” this is EXACTLY what Coffman says, word-for-word.

He meanders for another 30 seconds before adding this: “I think that she has done a lot of harm to the Colorado economy.”

Carroll smartly returns to the question: “You have failed, not one, not two, not three, but four fact checks, and you continue to use the same misinformation.”

Coffman fidgets, mumbles, tries to interject, and generally acts like an impatient child as Carroll tries to finish her answer by talking about her advocacy work. If you didn’t know better, based on body language and mannerisms, you would think that Carroll was the incumbent and Coffman the challenger; Coffman seems totally uncomfortable next to Carroll.

Carroll is heating up now. “I have never had a single ethics violation filed against me in my entire career,” she says pointedly. “You have. You have. One of us on this stage has had ethics violations one after the other. Not me — you!”

Dammmnnnn!!!

Coffman responds briefly by saying something about following the advice of the Attorney General.

5:10
Sondermann asks a question about immigration reform and the need to include serious enforcement efforts. Asks Sondermann: “How do you convince voters that Democrats are serious about border enforcement?”

Carroll says that we need to cut red tape and make it faster to get through the process for visas, citizenship, and other formal applications. Carroll talks about how much this influences families in CD-6 and needs to happen soon. Says border enforcement is a key part, but must also be cognizant of burden on families.

Sondermann then turns to Coffman with a similar question. He says that Republicans are focused on border enforcement but less clear about other pieces of comprehensive immigration reform — asks Coffman how to reach a consensus.

“I think both side are wrong,” says Coffman. “On the right, we want a step-by-step process, but what’s the first step?” Coffman says half of immigration problems today are the result of people who overstay their visas.

Coffman then tries to summarize the various legislative efforts he has supported in Congress, including his proposal to let undocumented immigrants earn a path to citizenship through military service.

Carroll shoots back that the problem with Coffman’s approach is that it still separates families. “It results in a broken system, with families torn apart.”

Coffman interrupts. “That’s right, and you didn’t listen.”

Okay.

“What I said was, there ought to be an opportunity for people who haven’t violated any laws other than immigration laws to come out of the shadows and earn legalized status,” says Coffman. “But then we have to move to a new system that has tougher laws.”

Wait, what? We need to encourage people to come out of the shadows and apply for citizenship…and then hammer them with tough new laws!

4:00
Carroll responds immediately to Coffman’s attacks. “My entire legislative career has been a thorn in someone’s side,” she says, as Coffman stares at the floor and obnoxiously shakes his head back and forth.

Carroll talks about passing lobbying reforms in the legislature, which she says required her to stand up to lobbyists, Democrats, and Republicans. Good line.

“I have a long track record of not only bucking my party when principle requires, but reaching across the aisle in order to get things done,” says Carroll.

Coffman immediately blurts out: “Never stood up to Hillary Clinton!” Huh?

1:50
Next question for Morgan Carroll, also from Boyd, which takes about 30 seconds to complete. Boyd asks Carroll about Hillary Clinton’s ethical standards as a sort-of companion question to the Coffman/Trump query. We understand that reporters feel the need to ask a similar question after querying a candidate about Trump, but this is really a false equivalency. Nevertheless…

“I think she was right to acknowledge that she was wrong on the emails and not try to defend it, and I don’t try to defend it, either,” says Carroll, who also disagrees with calling part of the electorate “deplorables.”

Carroll then pivots to say that this election is not about a “usual” Democratic candidate and a “usual” Republican candidate. “I think what has been fundamentally disqualifying about Trump has nothing to do with conservative positions and everything to do with a kind of open bigotry, and racism, and misogyny that don’t belong in either party.”

Coffman jumps in and says that he will “stand up to Republicans” before saying that Carroll has “never stood up to a Democrat.”

“That’s not true,” says Carroll.

Coffman is trying to take the same approach that didn’t work on Tuesday for Republican Senate candidate Darryl Glenn in his debate with Sen. Michael Bennet; Coffman is trying to criticize Carroll for not speaking out against Clinton’s mistakes, as though the things that Clinton says are remotely comparable to what comes out of the mouth of Trump.

1:00
First question for Coffman from Shaun Boyd, and it’s a doozy: Why did it take you so long to say definitively that you will not support Donald Trump for President?

Coffman starts out by saying that he never endorsed Trump and was the first candidate in the country to air a TV ad disagreeing with Trump (in reality, Coffman’s Trump positions have not been this clear).

“The fundamental question about this race is not who is going to be President…but who is going to be Speaker of the House,” says Coffman. With a straight face. “The question is whether Nancy Pelosi becomes the Speaker, or if the Speaker is a Republican. So, I think that’s very significant.”

That didn’t take long; the debate isn’t even two minutes old and Coffman has already dropped a Nancy Pelosi reference.

Coffman completely dodged this question, of course, and Boyd seems to have no problem letting him pass.

:45
Carroll and Coffman are introduced. Carroll is wearing a tan coat and looks about as happy as someone waiting for a root canal procedure. Coffman is dressed in a dark suit with a dark tie, and his body language says plenty — he is turned away from Carroll and sitting almost on the side edge of his chair. It’s safe to say these candidates are not particularly fond of each other.

:14
A shaky camera zooms in on a very blue room with six people seated in an L-shape formation. Morgan Carroll and Mike Coffman are on the left-side of the screen, separated by a small table from debate moderators Dominic Dezzutti, CBS4 political reporter Shaun Boyd, and political “analyst” Eric Sondermann.