In debate, Gavin Newsom showed why he’s good for Democrats but not bad for Joe Biden | Opinion

Thursday night’s Great Red State vs. Blue State Debate on Fox News, like the presidential debates it mimicked, wasn’t really a debate.

It was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 45, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 56, talking over each other, calling each other a liar and a hypocrite and boasting about their states.

But, for all that, it was captivating theater that demonstrated how conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats can take one word – freedom – to mean two things.

Newsom told DeSantis, “You want to bring us back to a pre-1960s world, America in reverse.”

DeSantis said crime is driving people to flee California because liberals “put the interests of criminals above public safety.”

And there was an intriguing subplot. DeSantis, lagging far behind former President Donald Trump in the race for the 2024 presidential nomination, seized the debate as an opportunity to reintroduce himself as a candidate to Republican voters. But why was Newsom there?

Newsom repeatedly denied that he would seek the presidency in 2024. He offered himself only as a supporter of President Joe Biden and, more broadly, a champion of Democratic beliefs and priorities. But some Democrats see Newsom as a showboating distraction who is stealing attention from Biden, or worse, calling attention to how much older and how much less charismatic the 81-year-old president is.

Democrats need not worry. Newsom is a tonic for a party that too often mangles its message and tends to be shy about its convictions. That the California governor went into the Fox News disinformation den to toss around a mini-Trump is good for Democrats and for democracy.

When the issue of Biden’s age came up, Newsom memorably remarked, ”I will take Joe Biden at 100 versus Ron DeSantis any day of the week at any age.”

It’s always a debate who wins these “debates.” Mostly, it’s about who loses them. DeSantis was more animated than in his presidential debates, but his manner seemed unlikely to connect with viewers. He showed why his presidential campaign has run off course and this last grasp at national attention did nothing to right it.

On television, what’s seen can be as important as what’s said. When DeSantis smiles, he looks like a man struggling with body language as if it is a foreign language. Newsom, tall and composed with an easy smile, came off California cool and at ease.

DeSantis kept trying to defuse that advantage by calling Newsom “slick” but only drew more attention to his awkwardness. (Unless I missed it, DeSantis never used the word “woke,” once the mantra of his campaign and now apparently discarded for its lack of relevance to voters.)

If there was a clear winner, it was Fox News. It drew a large audience by promising to actually be fair and balanced. Making it even more unusual was that it happened during a show in which the host and moderator Sean Hannity usually dispenses right-wing distortions and propaganda.

But it wasn’t really fair and balanced. The statistical graphs were tilted against California and topics highlighted Fox News’ fixations – a southern border invasion, big-city crime, schools as indoctrination centers, homelessness, gas prices and taxes. There wasn’t much about climate change, caring for an aging America, a mental health crisis among youth, jobs, wages, higher education, the cost of health care or defending Ukraine.

One topic that was unexpected and compelling was Newsom countering DeStantis’ claims about California crime by pointing to Florida governor’s 2023 signing of a law allowing the carrying of concealed guns without a permit. It was a demonstration of how Republicans should not be allowed to get away with complaining about crime while encouraging the proliferation of guns.

Hannity closed the show by asking the governors to come back to talk again. Both agreed, but a repeat would only be retread. Once was interesting, but also enough.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@newsobserver.com