U.S. Sen. Patty Murray agreed last week to two televised debates with her challenger Dino Rossi. One will take place in Spokane, the other in Seattle sometime in early October.
Republican Rossi had asked for six debates. Murray would only agree to two, and with several stipulations that will lower the exposure of the debates. The Seattle debate will be on KOMO TV, and will be broadcast across the state. The second one in Spokane, however, will air on Eastern Washington television stations and stream live on the Internet. There will be no television availability for us here in Western Washington.
Murray’s lack of wanting to debate is revealing. Usually in a close race or if one is significantly trailing, the candidate would want lots of debates in hopes of gaining several percentage points based on a strong showing at the debates. It is clear Rossi’s camp believes he has both the on-stage demeanor and the corner on issues that would resonate with voters. It also seems apparent that Murray is not confident in her ability to convince voters she is the better choice when taking on Rossi head-on.
Instead we suspect that most of what comes out of the Murray camp will be a series of negative advertising.
We had asked the Murray campaign if she would take part in a debate here in Lewis County, specifically on Oct. 11 at Corbet Theatre. The request went unanswered. We’ll still have some debates that week, but will obviously not be hearing directly from our senator. That’s a shame, as we believe this is an important election as far as the direction of our federal government, and the voters need to know as much as possible about those who will be representing us in Washington, D.C.
Rossi’s debate proposal would give voters a full chance to explore the issues and candidates. Unfortunately, Murray isn’t willing to give her constituents that opportunity.
Herrera Comes Out Strong
We’re hopeful that we will be able to get state Rep. Jaime Herrera and Denny Heck to debate in early October in Centralia at Corbet Theatre, along with other important county races.
The Herrera vs. Heck race is turning quite interesting as polling revealed last week that Herrera is off to a strong start with 54 percent compared to 41 percent for Heck, a 13 point lead. This is a key race for the 3rd Congressional District serving Southwest Washington, and one of national importance.
The poll revealed that Herrera held her Republican base, and Heck did likewise with the Democrats, but the independents went in Herrera’s favor. Maybe the voters are signaling they are ready for a change come November.
