Democratic candidates for governor debate each other at Rockville High SchoolBoth Democratic candidates for governor were poised and professional at a debate organized by the sophomore class at Rockville High School Thursday, but the auditorium packed mostly with students under the age of 18 seemed to connect more with one than the other. Even though there was no clear winner, “I think DeStefano related better to the crowd,” said sophomore Nick Rizner. “But they were both very professional,” he added.New Haven Mayor John DeStefano and Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy debated each other for about one-hour Thursday.
Maybe it was an off day for Malloy whose campaign started the morning off reading the latest Quinnipiac University poll that found among likely Democratic primary voters DeStefano leads Malloy 46 to 35 percent. In the past Malloy has won the support of young voters and high school students. Click here to read the article. Toward the end of the debate, it became obvious DeStefano did his homework on the local community beforehand, when he encouraged students to take charge of their own educational future and show up at the senior center Thursday evening for a discussion on the local budget which was defeated for the second time this past Tuesday. Another sophomore, Jesse Bunker, said Thursday’s one-hour debate helped him understand the issues better. “I think it helped give me and the rest of the students a better idea of the issues the candidates are focusing on,” he said. 
While Bunker wasn’t ready to volunteer for either of their campaigns he did say he would get to know them better by checking out their web sites. Click here and here for the campaign web sites. Rizner said some people he knows have already volunteered for Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s campaign. Live Blogging?The DeStefano campaign took the high school debate to another level by promoting live blogging of the event. Click hereto read the live blogging by the DeStefano campaign. Click here to see where the idea may have come from.The last live blogging event was at the Democratic State Convention when national blogs like MyDDshowed up to blog the delegate count for U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont. The blogosphere has championed Lamont and helped him win grassroots support in his race against incumbent U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman. “There’s a lot of energy in blogs,” DeStefano’s spokesman Derek Slap said Thursday. He said last week DeStefano added his comments to the My Left Nutmeg blog.The blogs “really resonate,” Slap said. He said DeStefano will be blogging regularly on the campaign web site. Click here to read Malloy’s blog on the debate. Malloy and DeStefano will meet when they debate again next Thursday, June 15 at the Bloomfield Senior Center, 333 Park Ave. 
