Memphis Mayoral Debate

I have read a few things on a few blogs and on the Commercial appeal & Memphis Flyer sites about the debate and there seems to be a general opinion with some variation.

Current mayors Lowery and A C Wharton did the best. Maybe Lowery did better overall because A C played it a little too safe. Both men answered the questions smoothly and tried to make their case for mayor based on experience.

I guess of the people who actually have a legitimate claim to the job Carol Chumney had the worst night. A couple of people noted the sniping at Wharton. In general with these kinds of debates the person that goes out their way to take shots at other people never looks good.

Opinion on Jerry Lawler were kind of all over the place probably the more Republican leaning you are the more you liked him. He kept saying he was not a politician. Most of his answers seemed to come from the Republicans running for office handbook. Answers short on actual substance but a kind of gritty with a positive frame that with his help that better days are ahead for Memphis.

Charles Carpenter did fairly good job of separating himself from his connections to Herenton, but did little else that was of note. Although the funniest comment I saw on Twitter was that Carpenter sounded like Cleveland from the Family Guy.

Rev. Kenneth Whalum Jr. got some good notices but for the most part was unimpressive.
The one thing that many people noted was his refusal to address the incident where two lesbians were asked to leave his church. I guess it is not a good sign when your shiny black suit is more interesting than anything you actually say.

Councilwoman Wanda Halbert was able to answer the questions but the quality of her answers were in great dispute. I saw a few positive things about her but most of them were that she was not polished enough. When she answered her questions she looked into the camera and had this stiff robotic sounding voice. Like she had memorized her answers and was doing her best to get it all in.

Which brings us to Mongo and school board member Sharon Webb.

Mongo is well Mongo and was mostly comic relief. Although for his crazy talk and weird way of answering questions he does make a few points about the nature of the way the city of Memphis is run.

The response Sharon Webb was either the kind pity your "special" cousin gets or out and out mockery. It's really kind of sad that she actually thinks she could become mayor.
In the big picture though the only difference between Halbert and Webb is that Halbert was at least she able to answer most of the questions, but whether or not she actually understood all the words coming out her mouth was debatable. Sharon Webb makes me wonder how hard it is to get on the school board.