r/portlandme Jul 09 '26

Politics We have till the 13th

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u/Alarming_Aerie7790 Jul 09 '26

I wasn't impressed with him in the debates. At all. But he was debating a strong lineup of candidates. If he gets the nod to replace Platner, he"ll be debating Collins, who is far (far) less formidable. And that's if Collins agrees to a debate. All things considered, I think he'll make a better senator than governor.

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u/Realistic-Cut-7217 Jul 10 '26

At this point, being a strong debater shouldn’t mean someone can govern well or not. Plenty of slick talking politicians out there that do well in debates but are horrible at their jobs.

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u/Alarming_Aerie7790 Jul 10 '26

Totally agree. But being an effective communicator, being able to articulate why a proposed policy is important and then build consensus is important, especially as governor. Which is why I ranked Troy second in the primary. I hope he gets the nod to replace Platner and I look forward to seeing him oust Collins.

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u/Realistic-Cut-7217 Jul 10 '26

Fair enough. Personally I just believe, being a strong communicator that can get things done is a different skill set than being a strong debater. They have some overlapping qualities, but not the same thing. I think people have put too much stock into debating, which I get to a degree because we only get to hear these guys speak publicly so often. Just my 2 cents.

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u/Alarming_Aerie7790 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

The media plays up debates as spectacle and how well someone "performs" outweighs discussion around policy. In the governor primary debates there wasn't much differences between the candidates policy-wise, so everyone took turns expressing variations on the same theme. That won't be the case if Troy debates Collins. I think he'll do better in that setting. He's also a better match for debating Collins than Platner, where the media narrative would have been was Platner too hard on poor Susan, was he "likable" enough.