Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
Posted at approximately ten this morning, and significant after Ryan Zinke’s self-assured debate performance last night, the Gazette endorsement’s penultimate paragraph reads:
Zinke speaks in confident sound bites. Lewis’ answers are more substantive, reflective of a public servant who studies the issues and is open to collaborating with people who are of different opinions and parties.
Confident sound bites win debates, which is why Zinke came across so well to the television audience last night. But a transcript of the debate — let’s hope one is available soon — will show Lewis provided more detailed, better reasoned answers most of the time. The debate’s adversarial, quasi-game show, format rewarded Zinke’s debating style and punished Lewis’.
Lewis, with whom I’ve been fortunate enough to spend serious one-on-one time, has one of the best person-to-person personalities I’ve ever encountered. One cannot help liking the guy, who’s also tack sharp. He’ll listen to Montanans, consider their wisdom, and get things done in Washington. He’s a much less liberal man than I am, but he’s also much closer to me on the issues than is Zinke.
That’s why on 4 November, in my precinct’s polling place, in the company of my neighbors, whose mere presence reminds me my vote affects everyone and should not be cast selfishly, I expect to cast my ballot for John Lewis.