While the second televised candidate forum for Louisiana governor on the was better-executed, it only marginally provided greater insight and information into the candidacies.

Nextstar television stations produced this one eight days after the first and featured two additional candidates to the first, which had Republicans state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, Treas. John Schroder, and former gubernatorial official Stephen Waguespack; Democrat former cabinet member Shawn Wilson, and independent trial lawyer Hunter Lundy. Front runner GOP Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry joined this one, along with the candidate that polling shows drags the rear, GOP state Rep. Richard Nelson.

As opposed to the previous one, this forum perhaps even more sparsely viewed focused more narrowly and more in depth on subjects, and the journalists asking questions did a better job of removing themselves from the topics of debate. Still, a minute for answers and rebuttals even shorter don’t provide much, and some decisions on questions were puzzling, such as spending almost a third of the entire program on the issue of abortion, which in a recent survey ranked as only the seventh-most important issue to state residents while the debate ignored third-ranked education.

The two candidates with the most to lose in a debate, Landry and Wilson which polling proclaims will head to a runoff with no one else even close, played it safe by making the most general statements. However, the format allowing for greater depth did have them going into more detail on some issues, such as abortion. On this, Landry acquitted himself well by marshalling facts to support his position that the law as written and regulations as issued – allowing abortion only in the instance of the pregnancy endangering the mother’s life or futile survival of the unborn – merited no legal changes and batted away assertions of inordinate enforcement. Wilson, by contrast, on this made situational morality arguments that historically have been heard before from eugenicists and totalitarians.

Only Wilson, who wants to legalize abortion on demand, argued against the law. Only Nelson thought the issue of broadening exceptions definitively needed revisiting.

Wilson more obviously foundered when asked about his record at the Department of Transportation and Development that he headed for seven years and that he worked in for 18. In trying to explain away a lack of progress in infrastructure building, he whined that his hands were tied,by legislative instruments and funding.

But that dodged the accusation that has haunted his campaign that the department under his leadership did poorly in completing what projects did get funded, such as finishing the flyover ramps in Kenner to the new terminal at the New Orleans airport, still incomplete after four years, or in planning and executing widening of Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge and a new bridge across the Mississippi River there. Even Lundy, who throughout made the most simplistic remarks of the bunch drawing upon a Manichean liberal populist worldview, piled on by asserting Wilson escaped from the job just as a bridge failure near that location came from Wilson’s inadequate management.

Wilson also flubbed a question about Wuhan coronavirus pandemic restrictions, saying government and people had to “follow the science” – which continues to reveal that restrictions such as those imposed far too long by Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards were pointless, if not harmful, as Wilson continued to defend in general those actions. All others swore off such extreme government intervention.

But the most cringeworthy moment came for Schroder, who kept trying to flog that a donor to Landry’s campaign under judicial and Insurance Department sanctions somehow confirmed cronyism and devalued honesty in government. He was reduced to saying this “appearance” was bad.

The forum also discussed the state police coverup in the death of black motorist Ronald Greene, although it didn’t really delve into the most important issue cited by residents, crime. It discussed toll roads about transportation funding, but didn’t get into the larger issue itself. And it corralled candidates into saying they likely would call a special session to address insurance woes.

As to a winner, Hewitt provided most often the most direct and fearless answers. In discussing the Greene death without mincing words she indicted Edwards’ role in that. She dinged Wilson on failures to maintain bridges as part of his general fumbling. And she called out by name Edwards’ policy failures on pandemic restrictions.

Despite the sporadic broadsides against Landry and Wilson by all the other candidates, this exercise did little to change the dynamics hurtling the pair to a runoff.