Can the Candidates Hold their Liquor?

Seattle mayoral candidates Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn spent this weekend trading shots both literally and figuratively at a “debate” at the Conor Byrne Pub in Ballard on Saturday night.

Both candidates were given a minute each to answer questions from the audience. If they spoke over their allotted time (as politicians are known to do) they could earn extra time by taking a shot of whiskey. The final tally: Mallahan had three shots to McGinn’s one. Were important issues of the day answered? The finer details of policy parsed? Not really, but we did find out that McGinn’s favorite Girl Scout cookies are Thin Mints.

The Seattle Times recently noted that “someone with Joe Mallahan's campaign used a video camera to record” McGinn’s final town halls. Are Mallahan’s people looking for a macaca moment? The most recent poll has the candidates tied. At this point, even minor gaffes might cost a candidate those few crucial votes necessary to get over the top. That’s why it’s surprising that both candidates spent the weekend boozing it up in Ballard. It’s refreshing to see politicians engage with citizens in a way that isn’t completely scripted

Perhaps we can hope for more of these types of candidate events in the future instead of inventing our own drinking games to liven up a televised debate. We personally think the 2008 presidential debates would have been much more bearable had John McCain been the one forced to take a shot every time he said “Joe the Plumber.”