Tom Crawford describes the recent gubernatorial debate at the Ga. National Fairgrounds in Perry

Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact writes:

This was old-style campaigning, where the candidates get out in public and fight and cuss at each other while the crowd whoops and hollers every time one of them draws blood. It was like the good old days when a Gene Talmadge would be accused of stealing and would roar back at his accuser, “Sure I stole - I stole for you!” There was no high-toned discussion of the issues at this particular event, but then, there haven’t really been any momentous issues overhanging this race anyway.

The cavernous meeting hall where they debated was filled with a lot of people in their 60s and 70s screaming at the top of their lungs and looking for someone to hit with a folding chair. Think of the typical crowd at a wrestling match or a taping of “The Jerry Springer Show” and multiply it by about 10.

There was a white-haired, elderly couple sitting in the second row who were wearing Perdue t-shirts and chatting amiably with the reporters covering the debate. Once the confrontation started, the wife, like a grandmotherly version of Bill O’Reilly, screamed “Shut up” whenever Taylor would ask Perdue about the $100,000 tax break. Her husband alternately booed and made rude noises. And they were one of the better-behaved couples there. This was such a hostile crowd, in fact, that when Taylor pointed to a disabled high school student named Xavier who was sitting in a wheelchair in the front row, the crowd booed Xavier.

If anyone emerged from the slugfest with any shred of dignity left, it was probably the Libertarian candidate for governor, Garrett Michael Hayes. “I’m a recovering alcoholic who comes from a family of hard drinkers,” Hayes remarked at one point. After sitting through that madhouse of a debate, everyone could have used a tall, cold drink.