The Gloves are Off: Mayoral Debate. Sam takes on Judy (and vice versa...sort of)

Alright I could try and spin this as an End of the World entry, but I think that's a little too much work for an end of the week task so I'm going to leave it as is.
Wednesday morning RRC held a mayoral debate between two candidates Judy Wasylycia-Leis and current Mayor Sam Katz.
My favorite part of the debate was watching the pros at work. Not the two political figure heads in front of me but all the media specialists who have already established themselves in Winnipeg.
I had the pleasure of sitting in front of Bartley Kives from the Winnipeg Free Press who was commentating the video for the debate, which would be put up on the Winnipeg Free Press website, and was tweeting as the debate went on. Without being too obvious about it, I would try and listen in on Kives's comments during breaks of the debate. I was impressed because he and Katz were making eye contact and motioning gestures too each other. This showed how much of a relationship Kives has made with the mayor. I was fascinated by how well  Kives communicated and built relationships within City Hall and couldn't help but think how talented this guy is. I mean I hate to gush about people, but when you see someone who is able to establish relationships this well with politicians really blows my mind.
I also really enjoyed his commentary during the breaks. He was able to summarize quickly and concisely what was going on in the debate. The skill to decipher political jargon always blows me away because it takes a while for me to really listen then figure out what they're saying (or not saying in most cases).
Not only that, but he was tweeting too! How on Earth can you sum up a bunch of empty comments and put it into 140 characters or less. Again it blows my mind.  Kives is extremely talented. I tried to absorb and listen as much as I could.
As for the debate itself, like I hinted too, it was an act that was full of empty answers that danced around the main issues. I find debates completely uniforming other then the fact that I was turned off by both candidates. One kept repeating the same answer for every question (lets get more community centres!) and the other was rude and won an audience over not by making points but trying to be popular and funny. In my opinion (because you know it's so important) I think politics in this city, not just switching to a new mayor, needs to change some how. It needs to get away from the fake acts and empty words and move to where people are actually volunteering and getting an idea of what a city really needs. For example riding the bus EVERYDAY including in the winter time, trying to get from beautiful bran new stinky (because it's near the dump) Waverley West to downtown within an hour.

Okay, okay, I know, I know, I'm ranting and getting off topic. I think I'm going to let this post die it's natural death now.
Remember no matter how much your politicians suck it's not the End of the World (ha ha I spun it anyway).