As we awaited the inevitable victory of the Boston Americans over the Brookl...er...Los Angeles Robins—Remember 1916!—there was a lot of red-hot debate action this weekend for those of us who have no lives and whose alma maters dropped football in the 1960s. The Wisconsin triple header on Friday was worth a look, especially the debate in the First Congressional District between former Paul Ryan staffer Bryan Steil, who has an impeccable pedigree in Wisconsin GOP politics, and Randy Bryce, the ironworker Democrat who showed up sans jacket and tie.

The exchanges were fiery and the crowd was amped up and blessedly beyond the control of whoever the moderator was. Bryce went after Steil on his ties to corporate America, to Ryan, and to some late-coming attack ads from Ryan's PAC that tabbed at Bryce over some episodes in his past.

"Bryan, these ads are breaking my mom's heart. My son has to see these before he has to go to sleep. Tonight, you're not going to be able to hide between millions of dollars' worth of attack ads. We're going to have people that are going to have questions answered. Game on."

The two agree on almost nothing, which made for an actual debate on issues. But there was one point at which Steil mentioned that Bryce had been arrested nine times.

"I just find it a bit ironic how much you harp on the word 'attorney.' I can think of at least nine times where a law degree would have come in really handy."

The most recent of those occurred when Bryce was part of the protests against what Scott Walker was up to in Madison, which Bryce was quick to note.

Scott Olson Getty Images

Meanwhile, Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage its midwest subsidiary, looked like a guy thoroughly worn out by the task of dismantling 100 years of progressive government, and desperate to assume his rightful place among the most highly paid lobbyists in the country. In his debate with Tony Evers, who leads him in the polls and who never will be mistaken for William Jennings Bryan, Walker seemed dispirited and distracted.

Walker and Trump participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Wisconsin Foxconn plant. Scott Olson Getty Images

Most fascinating in both debates, however, was the fact that none of the four candidates, not even Walker, seemed excited over the Foxconn project—the massive, China-based manufacturing plant in southeastern Wisconsin that is probably the biggest part of what Walker will claim as his legacy. The Democratic candidates pilloried it as a massive tax giveaway to a company that, in its home plants, has had to put up suicide nets to keep its line employees from hurling themselves off the factory roof. The Republicans, however, approached it gingerly, in a time-will-tell kind of way. I get the overwhelming feeling that nobody in Wisconsin really likes this deal, but that they don't see any way out from under it, either. If Walker wants a legacy, he's got one.

Elsewhere, however, there were a couple of performances that should be frozen in amber as the way you do debates correctly. In Virginia, Democratic congressional candidate Abigail Spanberger got fed up with the aptly named Dave Brat's attempts to run against Nancy Pelosi, and she fed his gonads to the wolverines.

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If that reminds you of nothing more than the Ali-Terrell fight—What's my name, motherfcker?—you're not wrong.

Which brings us to Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor of Florida, who overmatched Trumper Ron DiSantis right into all three elements of beddy-bye: winking, blinking, and nod. His closing statement makes his surprise win in the Democratic primary much more understandable.

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Democrat Andrew Gillum’s closing statement: “We want better… I'm asking you all for the only thing in life that my mother ever told me to ask for and that’s a chance. I want to be your governor. Let's bring it home.” #FLGovDebate https://t.co/2k8aILDzDU pic.twitter.com/LAqQimLDjE — CNN (@CNN) October 22, 2018

That's the way you do that debating thing.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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