Who will "win" the debate...? Is Kay more "intellectual" than RIck?

Usually there is no such thing as a winner or loser in a formal political debate. Candidates just spew their talking points, and there is rarely much actual debating going on... but impressions of who is in charge of the facts, who is confident, who is articulate, who is quick on their feet, who has zippy one liners... and things like that...

Who might win?

Kay's spokeswoman Jennifer Baker is building up expectations for Kay... saying that Kay is more intellectual than Rick and will win because of it (link). Excerpt follows...

Hutchison could make a dent with a calm, strong performance in which she takes apart Perry's record, Stanford said.

That's a tall order for an officeholder who's not known as a relaxed sound-bite machine and hasn't faced a tough race in a long while. Hutchison spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said Hutchison is working to “refresh” her debating skills, but showed no worry over sound bites: “She is going to talk to Texans like mature adults, and that doesn't always mean you talk in sound bites. She's going to be true to who she is. She happens to be more intellectual than Rick Perry ... Perry can fire up crowds, but Kay Bailey Hutchison actually has a record of results.”

Perry spokesman Mark Miner's response: “Maybe (a policy of) out-of-control spending and earmarks and bailouts is what they call intellectual in Washington, but not in Texas. The people of Texas want results.”

More intellectual? That sounds like what Al Gore was, relative to George W. Bush. Most people felt that Bush won their debates because he was more likeable... not because he gave detailed policy answers about lock boxes and the like...

I think setting your candidate up to be "more intellectual" than another candidate is yet another strange miscalculation by Kay's campaign... why up play yourself before the debate? Most people downplay expectations so when they exceed them they look great.