Live-blogging the Wisconsin gubernatorial debate between Mary Burke and Scott Walker.

It starts at 7 Central Time, and I'll be updating this post, with my own commentary. Tonight, I'm going to concentrate on things other than the actual substantive argument, which will be in the transcript. I'm going to watch and listen and see what I can make of the candidates' demeanor. You can watch along with me here.

7:06: Mary Burke goes first with her opening statement, sounding a bit tense, and glancing down at her notes, perhaps out of nervousness.

7:07: Walker begins by thanking everyone for being here tonight, and he acknowledges his opponent, Mary Burke, and all the people of Eau Claire, where it's great to be back. Burke omitted such pleasantries. "It's particularly nice to have my wife, Tonette." Oh! Mary had nothing like that.

7:09: The first question is about the Supreme Court's vacating the 7th Circuit's stay of the injunction against the Wisconsin voter ID law. Burke earnestly emphasizes the importance of everyone getting to vote. Walker thinks the voter ID law is "common sense" and it will be upheld ultimately in the court. He says he doesn't care how many instances of fraud there might be, because who among us would want OUR vote cancelled out by somebody else? Rebutting, Burke calls it "shocking" that "the Governor" doesn't even care about the amount of fraud, yet he'd put these "roadblocks" in front of people. Burke is coming alive in rebuttal here. She listened to what Walker said and reacted with good spontaneity.

7:12: Walker comes back with an assertion that the Milwaukee police have found multiple instances of fraud.

7:14: The second question is about jobs. What's something new they'd do? Walker has nothing new to say he'd do. He wants to keep doing what he's been doing, touts that, and says we don't want to go "backwards," which is what we'd be doing with Burke. Burke has one thing: "actually reduce the cost of college."

7:18: Minimum wage. Burke thinks the $7-something minimum wage is "ridiculous." Walker ignores the question of what the minimum wage should be and talks about getting people into jobs that pay 2 or 3 times the minimum wage. They pursue Walker over his failure to say whether the minimum wage should be raised, and without exactly saying "no," he says "no." The minimum wage is fine for really young people working at McDonald's, as he did. Then they go back to Burke for rebuttal, and she looks surprised. "I had actually already rebuttalled [sic] to the minimum wage."

7:24: Abortion. Walker reaffirms that he's pro-life, but emits some feelings about the difficult decisions women go through, cites the Supreme Court's resolution of the question, and stresses that his efforts are about ensuring the woman's "health and safety." Burke, with some passion in her voice, accuses Walker of taking away a woman's right to choose.

7:27: Will you serve your full term? Burke sure will! Walker says it's his "plan" to serve for 4 years. On rebuttal, Burke doesn't take the obvious opening and talk about whether Walker might run for President. He "plans" but will he "promise"? She could have pinned him down there! She chooses instead to emphasize how excited she is to serve and even says she wants to be Wisconsin's longest serving governor. Walker, laughing, says his wife doesn't want him to serve that long. Why did Burke do that? I suspect she feels some people think she's not that serious and is just a placeholder for the Democrats.

7:29: An intense interchange about Obamacare.  Burke tells us that as a businessperson, she knows to take that money from the federal government. Walker thinks it's not a good "bet."

7:34: Repeal Act 10?  I don't know if Burke gave a straight answer here, but she's struggling to deflect the accusation that she's a puppet of the unions. Both candidates drift into anecdotes, but certainly Walker is clear that Act 10 was the right thing to do.

7:39: Fracking? Burke is not going to be "selling out to the special interests." Walker thinks ""God and the glaciers gave us a great opportunity to build the economy.

7:47: An invitation to say something nice about your opponent. Walker appreciates Burke's philanthropy. Burke begins with a long "uh" and a shake of the head. She likes what he's done "in the community" and "around domestic abuse."

7:48: Oh! We're up to closing statements! Yay! Walker enthuses about all the good things that have been happening. He still drives his 1998 Saturn and eats lunch from a brown bag. "And I still love the people of the state of Wisconsin." Some of us might not agree with everything he's done, but he hopes we can see that his "motives are pure." Burke tells us how bad things are. There is no "comeback," and if only we'd "kept pace with the rest of the country," we'd be way better off. She doesn't care about whether "ideas are Democratic or Republican ideas, just whether they're gonna get the job done." And she's going to change the "tone" and "the system." Unlike Walker, she has to glance down at her notes.

8:24: Well, I guess I didn't do a good job of describing how the candidates looked and acted. But to tell you the truth, those two look and sound the same all the time. They're both offering to work hard and they aren't particularly charismatic or quirky. Neither of them said a single thing that was funny or weird or cute.