Jury still out after N.C. Bar debate?

The jury was seemingly deadlocked after today's debate.

Although some lawyers at the N.C. Bar Association debate today had favorites already in the races for governor and U.S. senator, a few who spoke to Dome said neither side won their case outright.

Bryan Collins, 47, a public defender in Raleigh, favors Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan over her Republican rival Sen. Elizabeth Dole, but he wasn't blown away.

"There were no 'wow moments' in this debate," he said. "They both played it safe and said things you'd expect them to say."

He said the debate did make clear what lines of argument the two sides would be using in the coming months: high gas prices and the Iraq war vs. high taxes and illegal immigration.

Andrew Walsh, 47, a Charlotte law professor who also leans Democratic, said he wasn't ready to decide.

"I had never seen Hagan before," he said. "She didn't have the polish that Dole did, but the flip side of that was that she came across as more genuine."

Beverly Tate Beal, a Superior Court judge from Caldwell County, said Dole and Hagan, who both have law degrees, did better than gubernatorial candidates Pat McCrory and Beverly Perdue, who do not. He said McCrory made need to "do more homework" on his claim that plea bargains are becoming nonexistent.

He said he still had questions about all the candidates.

"I would not make a final judgement based on what I heard today," he said.