Every so often, gubernatorial debates become one of the great sideshows of American politics. And that’s just what happened at Wednesday night’s wildly entertaining Republican primary debate in Idaho, which featured Gov. Butch Otter, his conservative opponent Russ Fulcher, and colorful also-rans Walt Bayes and Haley Brown.
It’s easily the best debate of its kind since New York’s first gubernatorial debate in 2010, when film noir villain Andrew Cuomo faced off against a Republican who wanted to lock poor people in prison to teach them about hygiene, as well as a handful of other eccentrics, including Jimmy “the rent is too damn high” McMillan.
The full debate can be found here, and it’s worth watching from just before the 20-minute mark to its wonderful conclusion. If you don’t have time for that, though, check out the YouTube highlight reel below.
“You have your choice, folks: A cowboy, a curmudgeon, a biker, or a normal guy,” Brown, a.k.a. the biker, says in his conclusion. To put the race in perspective, “normal guy” (assuming he meant Otter) once had a supporting role in a soft-core adult film.
UPDATE: China Gum, the manager of Russ Fulcher’s campaign, says her candidate is the “normal guy” Brown was referring to. “For whatever it’s worth, Butch Otter actually is the ‘cowboy’ character in that debate. Russ Fulcher is the ‘normal guy,'” Gum told The Daily Caller. “Hopefully the Governor will agree to a one-on-one debate so Idaho voters actually have a chance to hear from their elected officials on the issues that are important to all of us.”
WATCH (courtesy of Dennis Mansfield):