HARBAUGH & GIBBS "SIDE-BY-SIDE" AT ASHLAND UNIV DEBATE: 10/29/20O18

FINAL VERSION (SEE UPDATES UNDER INITIAL GRAPHIC)

FINAL UPDATE:  FRIDAY, NOV 2ND AT 10:26 AM

7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT VOTERS

(INCLUDES "MOST' OF STARK COUNTY)

COMPARE & DECIDE

06:52 AM UPDATE:  CANDIDATES' OPENING STATEMENTS
07:57 AM UPDATE:  ON THE FEDERAL DEFICIT
08:45 AM UPDATE:  HEALTH CARE INSURANCE COSTS
09:35 AM UPDATE:  FEDERAL GOV'T ROLE IN K-12, HIGHER EDUCATION
01:45 PM UPDATE:  FEDERAL GOV'T ROLE IN DEALING WITH OPIOID PROBLEM
02:35 PM UPDATE:  NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
02:45 PM UPDATE:  CANDIDATES' CLOSING STATEMENTS

ORIGINAL BLOG AS UPDATED

An impressive sized crowd (no official estimated but might have numbered 400/500) of 7th Congressional District voters filled the upper level of Ashland University's Myers Convocation Center to compare and contrast incumbent Republican congressman Bob Gibbs of Lakeville (Holmes County) and Democratic challenger Ken Harbaugh of Avon (Lorain County) last night.

Jeffrey Sikkenga, professor of political science at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and Brad Dicken, Elyria Chronicle-Telegram editorial page director  served as moderators of the debate.

Both sides had a core of supporters (the SCPR estimates the Gibbs group at about 125 and the Harbaugh group at 225).  Of course, those folks' minds are already made up.  However, there likely were 100 or so there for a ?look see" in an "undecided context" to make a side-by-side comparison.

For those 100 or so, they had to come away thinking that Harbaugh got the better of the argument last night.

A part of that appraisal has to be based on Harbaugh's superior articulation skills.

Last week, the SCPR was in a setting of Stark County Republican elected officials in which the communication skills of Gibbs was the topic.

The conversation:

SCPR:  "The Report has never heard Gibbs in any extended sense but is told that he does not have the greatest communication skills."

Official 1:  "Oh, I don't know about that.  I've seen/heard Gibbs and he is not that bad."

Official 2:  (uproariously laughing) "What Planet have you been on!" which drew an outburst of guffaws! from those hearing the exchange.

This exchange shows why Gibbs appears to be reluctant to mix it up with constituents in unmanaged settings.

It likely those similarly situated 7th District voters to the 100 or so undecideds who will determine the matter a week from today.

Harbaugh campaign officials seem to sense that it is a significant advantage to get Ken Harbaugh in front of voters who are familiar with Congressman Gibbs in their quest to turn "undecideds" their way.

Another advantage that might prove pivotal in a close Harbaugh/Gibbs election night drama is that it appears that Harbaugh has been much more out there "pressing the flesh" and doing "no holds barred" Town Hall meetings across the district.

 One attendee who was apparently "Ken Harbaugh" you are not "left of center enough" for me actually walked out on him at his Town Hall at the Edward Peel Coleman Center in southeast Canton after creating a verbal ruckus.  Harbaugh kept his composure and moved on without missing a beat.

Gibbs on the other hand has been carefully managed and seems to have participated in tightly controlled settings.  The SCPR, for instance, asked to be credentialed at his Shelby, Ohio Town Hall meeting in the Spring of this year, but was denied access even though the local media was allowed in.

As readers will see in the SCPR "walking" interview with Harbaugh post-event, he expressed it best and evaluating his chances to pull an upset ("its out of my hands now, it is up to the voters") in the heavily gerrymandered Republican 7th thanks to the Republican supermajority who have controlled Ohio General Assembly for nearly 20 years.  (Video:  56 seconds)

And if Harbaugh wins, make no mistake about it, it will be a big night next Tuesday next week for a Harbaugh win will mean that a very large "Blue Wave" is in process and Democrats will easily have captured control of the United States House of Representatives.

A "close, but no cigar" Harbaugh challenge will likely mean a Democratic control margin overall but not a 1994 esque Republican mid-term sweep that the nation saw during Democrat Bill Clinton's first term.

In a SCPR post-event interview with Congressman Gibbs, he discounted the notion that he/Republicans will be the victim of a "Blue Wave" come November 6th.  (Video:  1 min, 17 sec)

What follows is the "entire" 55 minute, more or less, debate on SCPR videotape.  However, The Report has also broken down in a question by question format significantly shorter video clips that enable readers without a straight 55 minutes to spare to pick his/her issue to see the candidates' responses.

First up, the "entire' debate:

CANDIDATE OPENING STATEMENTS (3 MINUTES EACH)

An interesting contrast on the priorities of the candidates and the focus of each.

For Democrat Harbaugh: the focus was on the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare) as it related to him personally and his daughter Lizzie who needed multiple surgeries before she reached four years of age.

What appeared to be a recurring theme for Harbaugh throughout the evening was an emphasis on affordable and available (i.e. not to be denied or priced out of coverage because of a "pre-existing" health issue) health care.  Harbaugh repeated throughout the evening what he says is a fact that Congressman has voted 13 times as a congressman to eliminate the need for insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions.

For Republican Gibbs:  there seemed to be no focus.  He was all over the place and what's worse he did not appear to "speak extemporaneously 'from-the-heart' as Harbaugh did.

Ken Harbaugh is clearly the underdog in this Republican gerrymandered congressional district.

If he is to win, it will have to be a case of the northern part of the district outvoting the southern part, to wit:

Among Gibbs points to the following legislative accomplishments he says that the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives, to wit:

• regulatory reform,
• tax cuts,
• put policies in place to create "a booming economy" with a record setting drop in the unemployment rate and which policies
• created jobs which Gibbs cited in detail,
• caused consumer spending to rise 4%,
• shoring up national defense,
• bolstered veterans assistance,
• lowering health care costs and protecting "pre-existing conditions" insurability as a rebuttal to Harbaugh's claim on Gibbs' having voted 13 times to gut the ACA, and
• compel welfare recipients to get jobs,

Then Gibbs went on a "fear-them" attack on Democrats and implicitly Harbaugh (if elected) claiming if Democrats achieve a majority they would: (familiar to us national Republican Party political "talking points)

• try to impeach Justice Kavanaugh and President Trump,
• abolish tax cuts,
• do away with ICE (Immigration and Customs),
• open up U.S. borders,
• protect sanctuary cities (i.e. cities which create havens for "threatened with deportation" immigrants,
• claimed that a third caravan of central Americans heading to U.S. was formed on Monday,
• bring on Socialism versus Americanism in the form of enacting a "single payer healthcare plan,"
• implement an agenda of "resistance and obstruction,"
• play to "liberals and Hollywood elitists,"

To summarize, Gibbs read off a bunch of statistics about Trump administration initiatives which he as a congressman support.  Moreover, he embarked on a consistent approach for him throughout the night in casting aspersions at Democrats.  He did not attack Harbaugh directly much but he seem to be lumping him with "all other Democrats."

Doing so might have been designed to question indirectly Harbaugh's "Country Over Party" campaign theme as not being authentic.

See/hear for yourself, the "opening statements" video:  (5 min, 46 sec)



FIRST ISSUE - THE MUSHROOMING FEDERAL DEFICIT

First up was Ken Harbaugh.

To the SCPR, Harbaugh did not adequately address the fundamental question of how to promote a vibrant economy and job growth without increasing the skyrocketing federal budgetary deficit:

His response centered on:

• the question:  Have most Americans benefited on the $23,000 per capita share of the debt increase he claims we now all own?
• sounding like a Republican in that he talked about job growth (which implicitly indicates increased federal revenues to deal with growing debt), 
• through infrastructure investment
• e.g. developing a high speed internet that he says the 7th District has one of the worst speed wise internet capability,
• which, he says, Congressman Gibbs by virtue of his Congressional committee assignment (Agriculture and rural infrastructure) could help solve but has failed to do so,  and
• suggesting that the deficit was a product of the recent Republican tax reform package,

Nor did Gibbs.  What the congressman did do was to:

• to go on a partisan attack in blaming Democrats from George Washington (a federalist which is more akin the Republican Party; not populist Democrats) through Obama for doubling the national debt,
• SCPR comment:  You have to be kidding from George Washington to Obama!  On-their-face ridiculous statements like that one go a long ways in making just about anything Gibbs says incredible,
• make the point that the Republican tax cut which increased the national debt was necessary in order to grow the economy,
• cited increase a child care tax credit and proposed tax reform 2.0 as a way to bring tax relief to the average American,
• claimed that he and the Trump administration is dealing with internet broadband with a $200 million infusion for it in the Farm Bill,

The SCPR video on the federal debt issue: (7 min, 48 sec)



SECOND ISSUE - THE COST OF HEALTH CARE INSURANCE

The issue was initial posed to Congressman Gibbs.

His response:

• criticized the Democrats for being for "Medicare for All."  He then went to the stock Republican positions:
• of having "the market" (i.e. the "for profit" private sector competition) determine the cost of healthcare,
• supplemented by increased use of Health Savings Accounts,
• nudging the markets to give consumers choices,
• reiterated profusely and seemingly defensive in light of Harbaugh's claim that Gibbs voted 13 times during his stint in Congress to do away with "pre-existing" conditions" protections that he and his fellow Republicans in Congress are committed to protecting the insurability of those with "pre-existing" conditions,

Harbaugh:

• predictable reiterated his position that Republican congresspersons are about gutting protections "pre-existing" conditions continued coverage which he added, in a anecdotal account, would make people effective "unemployable,"
• not content with the repetition he moved on to a out-and-out political attack on Gibbs:
• After citing Gibbs receiving campaign finance contributions totally some $1 million ($123,000 from the healthcare insurance industry) he quipped this zinger;
• "SIR, IS THERE ANYTHING IN YOUR OFFICE THAT IS NOT FOR SALE!"

To which Gibbs rejoined that Harbaugh has his Democratic talking points down pat.

The SCPR video on the Harbaugh/Gibbs health care cost exchange: (6 min, 48 sec)



THIRD ISSUE -  FEDERAL GOV'T (INCREASE/DECREASE) ROLE IN EDUCATION

Harbaugh:

• K-12, higher education should be controlled at the state/local government levels,
• However, with mounting college student debt due to federal government guaranteed loans, students who are willing to do some form of public service should get federal government help with financing their education
• brought up the fact that the recently enacted tax reform bill took away a $250 tax credit on federal taxes for money spent by classroom teachers for classroom materials purchased out of the teacher's personal funds. this, Harbaugh said in light of the fact that the recently passed tax bill gave millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars to corporations, which, he says, is an indication of  Congressman Gibbs' priorities
• also chided the congressman anecdotally for not responding to Medina school system students given an assignment to contact their congressman.  Harbaugh claims that Gibbs did not do the dignity from a sitting congressman that the students' deserved,

Gibbs:

• agreed with Harbaugh.  Education is a state/local government priority not a federal government one.
• seemed to promoted vocational/technical education over four year college degrees,
• cited numbers federal funding bills for education support funneled to state/local education,

The video of he Gibbs/Harbaugh exchange on the role of the federal government in education.

FOURTH ISSUE -  FEDERAL ROLE ON THE "OPIOID" CRISIS

Gibbs:

• agreed that the Opioid  use is a problem,
• talked about the federal government having put some $11 billion out for the 50 states to divide to combat the problem,
• defended corporate PACS as being ways corporate employees participate in the American political system and that Harbaugh is misleading the public about them,

Harbaugh:

• not only is Opioid use a problem, he says, but is now a "full-blown-crisis" in which Heroin misuse resulted in 72,000 deaths last year alone which was more than Vietnam War deaths which the U.S. poured a trillion dollars into.
• the point being that $11 billion compared to $1 trillion is a drop-in-the-bucket and results in folks seeking treatment to be delayed in obtaining it due to inadequate federal funding of treatment centers,
• Gibbs (Congresses) inadequate action on sufficient funding is about:
•  Gibbs getting campaign financing (presumingly implying that other Republican congressperson similarly benefiting) over $1 million from corporate PACS and over $123,000 from the insurance industry, and,
• Gibbs getting contributions from Cardinal Health which Harbaugh says (and presumably along with other such companies who contribute to congressional campaigns) manufactured the Opioid crisis and which Gibbs continues to receive campaign finance support from

The SCPR video on the Opioid part of last night's debate.  (6 min, 18 sec)

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FIFTH ISSUE - NATIONAL SECURITY IN IMMIGRATIONS & TRADE

Harbaugh:

• America must deal with "existential" national security problems (implying  that the immigration and trade issues are not immediate,
• cites the Trump administration threat to pull out INF Treaty as a real time threat to American national security,
• expresses a concern that America is 17 years into the war in Afghanistan without Congress having declared war in a  context of Congress not having members who have experience in dealing with matters of war, and
• challenges Congressman Gibbs to apologize for comparing being a member of Congress as being as risky as military service, and
• says the Republican controlled Congress talks about supporting the military while working to dilute their health care benefits

Gibbs:

• does "sort of" apologize,
• talks about threatening to withdraw from INF and the trade wars as building leverage to getting more favorable treatment for American security, and
• claims that the previous Democratic (Obama) administration gutted the U.S. military and that Congress is now rebuilding the military,

It is interesting to the SCPR that neither Gibbs or Harbaugh dealt with the immigration issue as a national security issue.  Especially for Gibbs inasmuch as in other parts of the debate he expressed fear about a third wave of Central Americans heading towards the U.S.

The SCPR video of the National Security aspect of last evening's debate. (7 min, 11 sec)

CANDIDATES' CLOSING STATEMENTS (8 min, 14 sec)