I watched the entire debate. (Admit it, you either ignored it or quickly flipped over to "Jeopardy" or a home shopping network which provided at least some intellectual stimulation.) In my case, I think there should be some sort of reward (in heaven or elsewhere) for devotion to the purposes of this blog.

Here is what I learned:

1. The smartest person in the room was the moderator, Ashton Marra. This wasn't even close. Jim Justice came off as a third-rate Donald Trump and Bill Cole as a tired West Virginia Republican politician who had memorized all of the necessary clichés. Unlike the candidates, Marra stayed on track and sometimes even forced them to answer the question at hand. I especially liked that she pressed Justice on one of his non-answers. (Is it too late to put together an "Ashton Marra for Governor" movement?)

2. One of the critical debate segments was about "high speed connectivity." Both candidates acted like the year was 2000 not 2016. Of course this is important for us to get to the 21st century and both of the candidates wholeheartedly agreed with the idea like it was some sort of major risk-taking on their part. (I guess if you contrast their opinion on this subject with the "legalize marijuana" issue, their belief in "high speed connectivity" was downright radical.)

3. We are so doomed. This is the best that West Virginia can do? Jim Justice or Bill Cole? In particular, the Democrats rejected both Booth Goodwin and Jeff Kessler for Jim Justice? And why were the Constitution, Libertarian, and Mountain parties excluded from the debate? (My hunch is that the Democrats and Republicans knew that all of them would look better than their candidates.) Yes, we are doomed.