Wednesday, October 15, 2014

If a Candidate Doesn't Show Up, is it still a Debate?

About a month ago the first debate in the Texas Governor's race was cancelled, but was eventually rescheduled.  This was after the debate was agreed to by both campaigns.

It seems to me that this particular election season has seen more than it's fair share of candidate scared to debate their opponents.  I see it coming more from the Republican side.  Maybe they're afraid to get fact checked on the air like Mitt Romney.  Hard to get away with a lie or two when you can't control the moderator.

In 2004, incumbent Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) failed to show up for a debate with his Democratic opponent, and the debate went on.

In Louisiana, the main Republican canidate, Bill Cassidy, skipped the first televised debate with incumbent Mary Landrieu (D-LA).  The debate went on.

This Friday in West Virginia there will be a U.S. Senate debate that the front runner, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, will be skipping.  The debate is scheduled to go on with the Democratic nominee, Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, and several minor party candidates.

Kudos to the Kentucky, Louisiana, and West Virginia media.  I think more candidates would stop this last minute cancelling if they knew that the debate was going to happen whether they show up or not.

The station in Dallas should have just gone ahead with the debate even if Wendy Davis was the only participant.

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