Transcript
WZZM Newsreader – Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm and Republican challenger Dick DeVos squared off tonight in East Lansing. Michigan’s candidates for governor met tonight for the first time in the first of thre formal debates leading up to the November Election.
Newsreader – And we have big story coverage on their first discussion of the issues. WZZM 13’s Peter Ross was in East Lansing tonight, and he’ll have the reaction from the debate’s site on the spin following the event.
Newsreader – Amy Fox is in our WZZM 13 newsroom. She’ll have reaction from West Michigan voters on what they heard from the candidates tonight, but we begin our big story coverage with the candidates own words tonight and how West Michigan factored into their arguments.
Dick DeVos – Having turned around the city of Grand Rapids along with many others who joined with me to turn around that community. We were able to add what reports are thousands of jobs in Grand Rapids that have been as a result, we’ve been able to talk about this and these are, this is the reality of what happens. This is a reality of a business when you take leadership and you bring leadership to the international markets selling Michigan made products around the world, good things happen to Michigan.
Jennifer Granholm – Greenville, Michigan is where Electrolux, a refrigerator factory that employed two thousand, seven hundred people in a town of eight thousand. They said they were going to go to Warez, Mexico because of they said it was easy to do under NAFTA, and they could pay a buck fifty-seven an hour. We offered Electrolux zero taxes to stay, the workers said they would take pay and benefit cuts if you just stay, and they said nope, it’s uh, we’ll make a greater profit if we go to Warez, Mexico under NAFTA.
Newsreader – Also in tonight’s debate, Governor Granholm touted her plan for the economy while Dick DeVos highlighted the state’s job losses during her administration. Here’s a look at their comments on jobs and the economy, the key issues we’re tracking in the state of Michigan.
Jennifer Granholm. It involves investing in education, because truly as we compete not just with Ohio and Indiana, but truly with India and China, we know that we got to up our standards for what we expect of our high school graduates, double the number of college graduates, or those that get technical or vocational certification. We know that we have to diversify our economy, this is part of our economic plan. We are investing more than any other state in the country in diversifying our economy.
Dick DeVos – I frankly find it amazing to hear the Governor say that plan is working when, when the people of Michigan aren’t. The people of Michigan are not working and our young people are leaving because they don’t see opportunity here, to to have kind of lives their parents had, and apparently we’re 49th in the country in terms of young people that are leaving this state, moving elsewhere because they see hope and opportunity somewhere other than Michigan.
Newsreader – Amway’s business in China has been the focus of campaign ads for weeks now and was debated once again tonight.
Newsreader – DeVos defended it as doing business in a global economy; Granholm called it part of the problem.
Jennifer Granholm – The CEO of Amway, he eliminated jobs in Michigan and created them, thousands of them, in China. Now, you know, it, he’s not the solution to Michigan’s problems, he, in fact, has contributed to the problem.
Dick DeVos – Under my leadership, I took our company to the international markets selling Michigan made products around the world. This is, this is the record. As a result we brought thousands of jobs to Michigan.
Newsreader – After the debate, the campaign staff’s took over spinning their candidate’s campaign messages. Our big story coverage of Vote 2006 and the debate continues with WZZM 13’s Peter Ross, live now from East Lansing.
Reporter – Juliet, this was a very open formatted debate and it covered a lot of ground, some might consider it free wheeling. Not really a lot of very memorable sound bytes, no knock out punches delivered here in East Lansing tonight. However both candidates seemed pleased with their performance.
The campus pep rally this night was about politics. As the Governor and the man who wants to replace her entered the WKRR studios. Shaking hands fifteen minutes before the broadcast began.
Dick DeVos – The Governor has made some assertions that are absolutely untrue.
Reporter – A debate where both essentially called each other’s campaign commercials lies.
Jennifer Granholm – I, I, I, he’s guilty.
Reporter – Where Amway and Alticor were recurring themes.
Jennifer Granholm – As the CEO of Amway he eliminated jobs in Michigan.
Reporter – The one issue from left field, allegations by the Governor that DeVos invested 170 million dollars in a company that is suspected in abusing Alzheimer’s patients.
Jennifer Granholm – What else is not being disclosed?
Dick DeVos – It was a tragic, tragic situation. To be sure and it turned out to be a very bad investment as well.
Reporter – When it was all said and done, who won?
Betsy DeVos – Well I think my husband did a great job of laying out why he should be elected Governor of Michigan.
Chris Dewitt, Granholm Campaign Spokesman – She talked about her plan. Dick DeVos never talked about what he’s going to do for the future of Michigan.
Reporter – Do you feel you said everything you needed to say and pull every card you needed?
Jennifer Granholm – No, no, there’s plenty more where that came from.
Reporter – Who do you think won tonight?
Dick DeVos – As we said, the people of Michigan were ultimately the winners, and they’re going to have to make that choice. Thank you.
Reporter – And again as for who won the debate, that’s the kinda thing that usually takes a few days of consensus to sort through the sound bytes, we’ll let you know when the consensus emerges. Live in East Lansing, Peter Ross, WZZM 13 news.
Newsreader – In tonight’s exclusive WZZM 13’s survey USA news poll, we asked 500 people across the state about the usefulness of political debates when deciding who to vote for. Well 60% told us they are mostly useful, 33% described them as mostly useless in making a decision, but our poll also suggests most people make up their minds on a candidate before the debates. 29% say they typically decide which candidate to vote for six months before the election. 31% say they decide three months before, 29% say they decide a few weeks before an election, 9% say they decide on a candidate on Election Day.
We wanted to find out what West Michigan voters think about the debate and the candidates.
Newsreader – Since the economy is essential issue in the campaign, WZZM 13’s Amy Fox went to Greenville, a city that is going through an economic challenge like much of the state. And Amy continues her Vote 2006 big story coverage from the newsroom.
Reporter – Lee Van, Juliet, we found some similar results to survey USA. Many people have already made up their minds. In Greenville, they’ve made up their minds in different directions.
With recent layoffs and plant closings at Electrolux and Tower Automotive, many people in Greenville are paying a lot of attention to the Governor’s race. Governor Granholm returned the favor.
Jennifer Granholm – Right here in Michigan, and you guys know this is Greenville, Michigan.
Reporter – The debate garnered some of the attention at a couple local hangouts. At the Winter Inn, Don Scott says he knows who he’ll vote for.
Don Scott – I had my mind made up when I found out that Dick DeVos had run for Governor, and um, he did a great job with Amway, you know, I’m thinking that’s we Michigan could really use, more of a business man, build the economy back up.
Reporter – Down the street at Huckleberry’s, Granholm supporters gathered to watch.
Patricia Neary-Hayward – I think, she’s worked so hard over her past three and a half, four years to try and get things going here. She’s been so helpful in Greenville itself, and she is working with legislature that is Republican-run.
Reporter – While people in Greenville have different views of the candidates, everyone we talked with agreed that things are looking up including business people like Barry Thorton of the Winter Inn.
Barry Thorton – There is some new business being generated here in Greenville, there was a solar plant. They’re talking about doing business here in town in it, and a few of those folks have stayed with us as well.
Patricia Neary-Hayward – What a coup, a huge and uh forward looking company to come here.
Reporter – Now it’s just a question of which candidate can offer the most help with Greenville’s recovery.
Not all of the debates talk place between the candidates, people tell us, in this race, there have been some heated debates at the bar as well. In the newsroom, Amy Fox, WZZM 13 news.
Newsreader – We want to know who you think won the first debate in the Governor’s race, Governor Granholm, or Republican Dick DeVos. Vote in Poll 13, you go to WZZM13.com, scroll down to the table of contents at the bottom of the homepage, and click on the Poll 13 link. We’ll have the results later on in this newscast.
Newsreader – The candidates will meet three more times before the election. Their final debate is on October 16, in Detroit. WZZM 13 will bring it you live, two weeks from tonight, that’s at 8pm.
Total Time: 8 minutes, 56 seconds
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