The Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership sponsored a debate last night between the two candidates vying to represent Charlottesville in the House of Delegates, David Toscano and Tom McCrystal. The moderate Democrat and the moderate Republican spent a lot of time agreeing. The major difference between the two seems to be their party affiliation: McCrystal argues that, as a member of the majority party in the GA, he will be able to accomplish things on behalf of Charlottesville, while Toscano believes that he’ll be able to reach across party lines.
Bob Gibson’s got the story in today’s Progress. Better still, Sean Tubbs has an MP3 of the whole event up on the Charlottesville Podcasting Network.
FWIW, McCrystal is a long-time cvillenews.com reader and Toscano isn’t.
In my opinion that should be a ringing endorsement for Tom McCrystal.
its really hard to choose between these two… mostly because i cant distinguish one’s view from another. The only reason why I would support a moderate Republican over a democrat would be an anti abortion stance and if im not mistake McCrystal doesnt oppose it very much.
I think it would be interesting to have a republican representing Charlottesville is the GA. It would be kind of like the republican senator from Rhode Island (Chaffee sp?). He would be Republican but he would have to be moderate very careful to make sure his votes represents his district and he would know not to take us for granted. Toscano on the other hand can do whatever he wants b.c he’s a Democrat and well the 57th district of VA is one of the most heavily democratic areas in the state (73% for Kerry)….. I dont know about this race, I’m still undecided. I’d like to give Kaine more democrats to work with should he win but id like to have a someone on “their side” who can negoticiate with “them” should Jerry Kilgore win (i say as I cringe).
you might be able to find a little contrast between the candidates in this report:
Toscano and McCrystal Debate (Oct 5 2005):
http://cvilleindymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=1926