It is apparent that there is one adult homo sapien in this race and two hungry chihuahuas.

I’m not sure who prepped Van Hilleary, but having a cogent, effective response to anything was the exception, not the rule. Ed Bryant thinks he’s running against Harold Ford, Jr., not seeming to realize that he has a hurdle to jump in the meantime. Bob deflected and countered the other two’s attacks effectively, in my opinion. I want Bob to win - every regular reader knows that. I was certainly heartened by my candidate’s performance, and smiling on numerous occasions when Corker rebutted their attacks succinctly, effectively, and with humor.

The “thanks again for mentioning my name” line was fantastic. Corker made himself the positive focus of the debate, and it presented well.

UPDATE I’m watching the post-debate radio interviews, where each candidate was interviewed in succession. Ed and Bob were fine. Now Van is on, and he looks, well - he looks mad. He wasn’t comfortable with the immigration inspector vote coming up again on the radio. Quotes for the ages

“Bob’s whole strategy is to say he’s more Tennessee, or whatever”

“This isn’t about who built Krystal drive-thrus”

It shockingly appears that Van Hilleary is comparing himself to Ronald Reagan (no wait, he offered a disclaimer).

FURTHER UPDATE There was clearly a difference in assessment between those who were present for the debate, and those who watched the video stream. A lot of the background was lost in the transmission. From my kitchen table, Corker did well. Then again, those who were present and /or supporting Van or Ed had a different take.

At this point, perhaps because I’ve heard their attacks ad nauseum, every attack on Corker, no matter how seemingly legitimate at one time, appears to be an act of desperation. Both Ed and Van have been negative so long that they are beyond the saturation point. Instead, they come off as just not liking Corker.

If you’re going to go negative, as intensely and as early as Van-Ed did, you need to land some knockout blows. No such blows have been landed. Despite all these attacks, Corker’s poll numbers remain high.  After awhile, ineffective attacks morph into a cacophony of political pettiness, not effective criticism.