Jeremy Markovich NewsChannel 36 Producer

I purposely waited until Wednesday night to figure out how to cast my vote for mayor of Charlotte.

It's Thursday afternoon, and I'm still not sure.

I was one of three people who got to live-tweet the Charlotte Mayoral Debate for NewsChannel 36. The idea was that I'd take the temperature of the audience and provide some sort of color commentary. I did my best.

It was hard.

First off, you're limited to 140 characters per tweet. Once you go over the limit, you've got to go back and try to shorten it up. By then, the candidates have already moved on to the next topic. I tried to use most of my time to quickly analyze what John Lassiter and Anthony Foxx were saying. Thirty seconds later, my commentary was technically old news.

I changed my strategy. I uploaded pictures I'd taken before the debate. Old news. I provided links to a relevant question about campaign fundraising. By the time I'd found the articles and posted them, the candidates were already two questions onward. Old news.

I did what I could, and my other two colleagues (the talented Bobby Sisk and the sharp Tonya Jameson) filled in the gaps when one of us fell behind. It was over in an hour. I felt like I had much more to say. I tried to provide some sharp insight.

But, uh, you also got this from me:

• Lassiter: "We need Jack Bauer in Charlotte."
• I think, THINK there is a sports related question coming... (NOTE: I was wrong)
• Cell phone going off in here.
• If you think Dave is ridiculous now, you should hang around him in the newsroom.
• McGlohon security guards watching Transformers 2 backstage.
• Please don't yank out my power cord, people.

Most of all, I had hoped that by furiously covering the debate, I'd be able to form my own lasting opinion about the candidates. That didn't happen. Oh sure, I had a general idea of how they performed, and I was able to get their words down into my computer, but multi-tasking robbed me of any lasting memory of what they were actually saying. It's all a blur. Kind of like trying to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time.

I swear I'll watch the whole debate again online (Tonya gasped when I told her that). I need to. But this time, I'll leave the commentary to my brain, and not my fingers.

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