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Local party representatives react to first presidential debate

By Staff | Sep 28, 2016

With the first of the presidential debates in the books, local party members were relatively satisfied with how their candidate performed, but want to see the major issues addressed more next time.

Monday night, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton faced off against Republican candidate Donald Trump at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Moderated by Lester Holt, an anchor with “NBC Nightly News,” it was the first of three televised debates that are planned for the two.

“I thought it went better than I thought it was going to go,” Timothy Hawes, president of the Democratic Club of Cape Coral, said.

He added that he thought Clinton won because “her answers had more substance.”

Robert Davies, president of the Republican Club of Cape Coral, disagreed.

“I think the debate was kind of neutral on both sides,” he said. “I don’t think anybody won.”

Davies noted that he did not hear anything new from either candidate.

“I think what both were saying, they’ve said before,” he said. “So I didn’t really see any surprises.”

The only thing that Hawes found surprisingly was the return of the birther issue.

“He still won’t get off of it,” he said of Trump. “He didn’t just sweep that away and say, ‘It’s done.'”

Sometimes Trump can raise concerns with the GOP, according to Davies.

“But I think he behaved himself well,” he said of the debate.

Davies did not believe that his candidate left any issues unaddressed.

“I think he made a lot of his major messages in the first 20 or 25 minutes,” he said. “I think the major points were made in the beginning.”

Hawes believed the Clinton offered depth to her answers.

“It looked like she did her homework,” he said. “She looked professional.”

However, Hawes felt she “breezed over” the college tuition issue too quickly for viewers.

“I also thought she should have taken Trump on on the president of Russia,” he said, adding that the GOP candidate is “cozy” with Vladimir Putin. “She should have attacked him a little bit more on that.”

Davies would have liked to have seen a little more fight in Trump, as well.

“I think there’s a lot of issues he could have pressed her on and he didn’t,” he said.

Davies cited the email scandal and “messes” in North Korea, Iran and Libya.

“Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state during that time,” he said. “He didn’t bring that up.”

“I think he was being kind to her,” Davies added.

According to Hawes, Trump “didn’t do too bad.”

“But he doesn’t really have a grasp of the facts,” he said.

“It’s like he’s trying to bluff his way through a college exam or oral exam,” Hawes added.

Both party members agreed that they want more specifics in the next debate.

“I’d like to see more discussion in detail on the major issues that the public is interested in,” Davies said, pointing out NATO, the U.S. economy and immigration as examples. “The real issues.”

Hawes agreed.

“I hope they can get off some of these issues that mean nothing,” he said, nodding toward the birther issue. “The little issues that don’t mean a lot to people – they’re just issues to get people mad.”

Hawes cited the economy, pensions, job creation and terrorism as alternative topics.

“You don’t want to tell our enemy everything, but I think they can cover it a little bit better,” he said.

Davies added that the information has to be presented in a way the public can understand it.

“Most citizens want to have it straight and have it presented simply to them,” he said.

The second presidential debate will be held on Oct. 9 from 9 to 10:30 p.m. at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The moderators will be Martha Raddatz, chief global affairs correspondent and co-anchor of ABC’s “This Week,” and Anderson Cooper, anchor for CNN.

Before then, the vice presidential debate between Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence will take place Tuesday from 9 to 10:30 p.m. at the Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. The moderator for the night will be Elaine Quijano, anchor for CBSN and correspondent for CBS News.

On Oct. 19, the third and final presidential debate will be held at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada. The moderator for the showdown will be “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace.