The State Journal-Register editorial board was not impressed with Monday night’s debate.

We suspect you are wondering who won Monday’s gubernatorial debate between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka.

Had there been a debate, maybe we could issue an opinion of who won. But there was no debate on Monday. Rather, what those who tuned into the Illinois Radio Network-sponsored “debate” heard were two politicians engaged in mudslinging and memorization. [,,,]

It would be interesting to see a more formal debate between the candidates, one in which they had to carefully detail their answers and stay on the question asked. We aren’t sure the Geneva Conventions would allow for the use of the necessary implements to achieve this, however.

And Eric Krol made several points about the debate in his Animal Farm bloglike thingy. Here are his first two:

What a difference a few months makes. During their first debate at NBC-Ch. 5 in late May, Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka batted Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich from pillar-to-post. Blagojevich looked rattled as Topinka steamrollered him on ethics. On Monday night in Decatur, Blagojevich was more calm and focused, sticking to his talking points and even scoring a few points of his own on ethics by pointing to what he said were no-bid contracts in Topinka’s treasurer office.

*With only two debates scheduled, Topinka needed a strong performance to close a gap in the polls. You’ll probably be hard-pressed to find a pundit in Illinois this morning who’ll say that she delivered. As we pointed out in our story today, Topinka came out nervous, fumbling her pass at the ethics question before recovering to score some later points on ethics and the state budget situation. When we saw her before the debate, we thought perhaps the new hairdo might be the sign of a new Topinka, a turning point for her in the race. Maybe she’ll be that candidate come Oct. 26, when the two debate at 7 p.m. on WTTW-Ch. 11. The question is, will it be too late? The election is Nov. 7.

Meanwhile, John Patterson of the Daily Herald had a funny piece today.

He’s sure the $1,500 check to his 7-year-old daughter was a birthday gift.

That is unless it was a christening gift for the newborn.

Then again, he’s not quite sure what or which daughter it was for, although he’s certain it was legit and ethical and properly disclosed on the required state forms, albeit a year late and conveniently following a tête-à-tête with federal investigators.

Meet Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Chicago Democrat seeking re-election in November.

She called her Republican rivals a “bunch of morons,” later clarifying that one of them, in fact, was not a moron. Then, to stick the landing of her political flip, she apologized, saying they weren’t morons after all, she was just tired and cranky at the end of a long day’s work. And more recently she quipped about beating the sitting governor with a rolling pin.

Meet state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka of Riverside, the Republican nominee for governor.

He eventually gets around to the YouTube thing. Go read it, and make sure to check out the companion piece, “Sticking to the script may work.”

Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich often gets caught saying one thing to one group and something else to another, while Republican nominee Judy Baar Topinka has a habit of saying a little too much.