David Sanders, the Democratic nominee in Indiana’s 4th Congressional District, sent out a press release indicating that he and the Libertarian candidate, John Duncan, I believe, have agreed to a debate schedule. So far, Todd Rokita has apparently indicated a general desire to debate, has been invited, but has not been responsive to requests for specific debate times.
The debates are scheduled in Ellettsville at 7:30 PM on August 10 and Greenwood at 7:00 PM on August 24. It’s the same old dance, I suppose. Everyone agrees in principle that candidate debates are a healthy thing in a democracy. But, as a practical matter, a front runner does not have a great deal of incentive to debate. Mostly they have something to lose and not much to gain. Having secured the Republican nomination in the heavily Republican 4th District, Mr. Rokita probably isn’t feeling a lot of pressure to actually engage in a debate. This will always be the sort of calculus a front runner makes until voters punish a candidate for not debating or for dancing around the issue until agreeing at the last possible moment.
The same thing appears to be happenning in Bloomington. Todd Young has challenged the inclumbent Democrat Represenative, Baron Hill, to a series of debates, with no response from Baron.
I do not know if there is a Libertarian candidate in that race, allowing them to schedule a debate without Baron.
Paul, there’s actually quite a bit of difference. Sanders issued the debate challenge back on June 7, and the Libertarian candidate quickly responded, so they scheduled a date. More than 50 days later, there’s still no response from Rokita, aside from the fact he wants someone else to arrange the debates.
In the 9th, Baron has repeatedly said he’d debate. Young just released his grandstanding “challenge”, knowing full well that any incumbent’s duties will mean that he can’t make all 7 of them. But Baron’s camp has only had the debate proposal for a few days, and has already accepted the call to debate even if the specifics need to be hammered out. The Libertarian candidate here in the 9th is Greg Knott – I haven’t seen any real response from him, but I assume he’ll be there for any debates.
Brian: Thanks for responding. My understanding of the reason behind Young’s “grandstanding challenge” (as you call it) is that Baron Hill’s camp has refused to discuss debates with Young in private contacts between the two campaigns prior to such challenge.
Paul, I haven’t seen or heard anything to support that rumor of Baron refusing to negotiate on debates. It strikes me as suspicious, since Baron has been repeatedly calling on Young to respond to his challenges and clarify his positions. Regardless, today Hill announced that he will be at at least 2 of the debates.
Also today, Rokita confirmed that he will be skipping the debate in Ellettsville on August 10.