This past Friday, the second debate between the three Republican congressional candidates vying for the opportunity to face-off against Democrat Congressman Alan Grayson in the November general election, was sponsored by four local Osceola County Republican clubs, and held at the Kissimmee Sports Arena.

The candidates, Jorge Bonilla, Peter Vivaldi, and Carol Platt, all stepped up their game at the debate from their previous performances, as they all sounded more insightful and knowledgeable of the issues.

Vivaldi, who was utterly embarrassed by Bonilla for his poor message articulation and lack of knowledge of the issues during two head-to-head forums between the two men, seemed to have done some homework in preparation for the debate.

Feeling comfortable in his own skin during the debate, Vivaldi doubled down on his support for the widely unpopular 2013 Senate amnesty-light immigration reform bill, and tried to impress upon the attendees of the debate that he was the only candidate able to bring together this “minority-majority” district, emphasizing the term “Latino” ad nauseum, when referring to Hispanics.

Vivaldi supports term limits, stating that he would happy to see a 8 year maximum term in office for members of Congress. In addition, to term limits, Vivaldi hopes to eradicate the IRS, as well as the EPA.

During his opening remarks, Vivaldi surprisingly stated that he was not running for office for a title, nor was he a career politician.

Vivaldi’s statement contradicts his record of being a career politician, in that he has sought election to public office on several occasions, including a failed run for the Orange County Board of Education district 4 seat in 2012, and a run for the Orange County Commission seat 3 in 2010.

But just a year prior to that election night loss, Vivaldi applied for a vacant Orange County Commission, lobbying key Orlando-area supporters of Governor Rick Scott to push his application through.

Vivaldi did not vet with the Executive Office in Tallahassee after it was discovered that he lied on the application about every being “arrested, charged, or indicted for violation of any federal, state, county, or municipal law, regulation, or ordinance.”

Vivaldi has a past felony arrest record for willfully writing bad check(s).(Read more here and see the mugshot)

Vivaldi’s sworn and fraudulant application can be read in it’s entirety here.

Carol Platt, showing off a new look, seemed a bit more fiery and substantive than her past public appearances and debates. The Osceola County native looked comfortable on stage sandwiched between Bonilla and Vivaldi, and address the questions to the satisfaction of several of attendees in the audience.

On the issue of Common Core, Platt has never stated that she was completely against the “socialized education” standards being pushed by Jeb Bush (who has endorsed Platt) and has recently used some of the “misinformation” talking points being used by the pro-Common Core lobby.

Like her opponents, Platt supports term limits for every elected official. If elected to Congress, Platt says that she would term limit herself to 12 years in Congress, if she was elected. Platt did however hedge on abolishing the IRS and other government agencies, saying that some of these agencies had important roles to play, and the people shouldn’t be to quick to call for their abolishing because realistically, it couldn’t be done.

Jorge Bonilla started off strong, and kept that momentum throughout the debate. As one attended said, ” Bonilla had a real grasp on the issues, and seem to know a lot more than the other two.”

While the exiting sentiment was the Bonilla performance overshadowed the performances of the Platt and Vivaldi, one attendee who also believed Bonilla sounded like the smartest guy in the room, said that Bonilla’s answers and know-how of the issues seemed too polished and prepared.

Throughout the debate, Bonilla was having several Marco Rubio thirst moments, as he was seen chugging down water.

Bonilla disagreed with Platt about Americans not being able to abolish the IRS and other overreaching government agencies, as well as saying that he supported term limits, and ‘legal’ immigration reform.

All in all, they all did pretty well. Bonilla was the more substantive smarty-pants, and Platt stuck to her guns as being a strong and fiscal administrator, as well as praising her campaign endorsements. One non-political and interesting point to make is that both Bonilla and Platt share something very special in common. Carol Platt was an adopted child, while Bonilla and his wife Maggie, have recently adopted two baby boys.

As we mentioned, Vivaldi did better, but seemed to echo, and in some instances, regurgitate Bonilla’s very words and positions on several issues.

Here are the opening remarks of the three candidates.