The Great Mayoral Debate, Part 1
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy went head to head Tuesday afternoon at the Downtown Rotary Club of Indianapolis. The full audio of the debate will be embedded over our sister blog IndyPolitics.Org. It runs about 50 minutes.
Both candidates stuck to their scripts. Kennedy came across as relaxed, but short on specifics. The Mayor came across as good on specifics, however he could have relaxed a little more with his delivery. So I don’t think anyone changed anyone’s mind overall.
The Mayor did take several opportunities to rebut some of the allegations made by Kennedy, which led some to believe he was playing defense, however the Ballard people say he was making sure Kennedy kept the record straight.
The only real bit of drama occurred before the debate when the Kennedy campaign tried to bring in their supporters with t-shirts and signs, however they were not allowed in since it was against the agreed to rules.
This debate was actually good for both candidates to get the measure of themselves and each other. The debate to watch will be the second one at Butler University on October 5.
