The Delaware way takes center stage at House of Representatives Debate

The explanation to a lot of issues at today’s WDEL-WHYY debate at Widener University between the 4 candidates running for U.S. House can be summed up in one word: GRIDLOCK! Rob Tornoe noticed that as well.

 

Here’s Rob’s commentary:

The word of the day from this morning’s Delaware Congressional debate was “bipartisanship.” It’s funny how candidates for office talk so freely about reaching across the aisle, yet their outreached arms seem to recede as soon as they take office. Republican candidate Tom Kovach certainly projects the pragmatic moderation that made Mike Castle such a successful Republican candidate. Not only did he refuse to take Grover Norquist’s pledge, he actually supports bringing back the Glass-Steagall Act, a law that prohibited commercial banks from engaging in the investment business. A Republican for more regulation? Only in Delaware. Carney also had bipartisan bonafides he hasn’t been bashful about pushing. Carney formed a bipartisan breakfast club in the House that gets together every two weeks or so and talks about legislation over croissants and coffee. That may not sound like much, but considering this has been the least-productive Congress in history, even small steps are appreciated. It was nice to see Libertarian candidate Scott Gesty and fiery Green Party candidate Bernard August taking part. Neither have much chance of winning, but then again, neither does Kovach, who while moderate, belongs to a party many left-leaning Delawareans would criticize as extreme. After the election, I’d love to find out what compelled Kovach to run in an election he was almost certain to lose, when he could have run against Tom Gordon for New Castle County Executive and had a decent shot of winning. Did big money Republicans convince him to run, or was he sick of dealing with silly local issues, like how long homeowners can leave their garbage cans out in front of their house before being ticketed?

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Rob Tornoe is a political cartoonist and a WHYY contributor. See more of his work at RobTornoe.com, and follow him on twitter @RobTornoe.