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Foley Ditches Debates- Why It's Different This Time

by: thomashooker

Mon Sep 27, 2010 at 17:26:38 PM EDT

CTBlogger has reported on his Hat City Blog that Republican Tom Foley has ditched three debates sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Here's why that refusal to debate is different from Lamont's initial decision not to debate on John Dankosky's WNPR.

The primary reason is that League of Women Voter-sponsored debates for general elections are a tradition around the country, as well as in presidential debates. Of all possible debate formats, LWV is the most respected, and participation in them is a time-honored tradition. In contrast, during the primary, Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy had already agreed to participate in two debates, and had participated in numerous candidate panels. Dankosky's "me-too" attempt to force a debate was gratuitous, and specifically designed to embarrass Lamont.

Furthermore, LWV, according to CT Blogger, decided to cancel the debates after Foley refused to agree to participate. That is what WNPR should have done when Lamont informed them that he declined to participate. Instead, unlike LWV, WNPR and Dankosky decided that they would go ahead anyway, and give Malloy an hour of free air time, if Lamont didn't show up. That was nothing but a partisan ploy, and an attempt to take sides in a campaign issue. League of Women Voters did the responsible thing here and canceled.

WNPR should take a lesson. It's now up to the voters of Connecticut to make their own determination about Foley and his refusal to participate in an electoral tradition.

thomashooker :: Foley Ditches Debates- Why It's Different This Time

Tags: Foley, Malloy, WNPR, (All Tags)

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Foley Ditches Debates- Why It's Different This Time | 2 comments

come on, now (0.00 / 0)

From the article CTBlogger cited:

Candidate forums for governor
September 28, 7 p.m.: education debate at Macdonough School in Middletown, sponsored by ConnCan. Malloy and Marsh. Tickets required.
September 29, 11 a.m.: tourism forum, Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford. Foley, Malloy and Marsh.
October 1, 11:30 a.m.: business forum sponsored by Greenwich/Stamford chambers of commerce, Hyatt Regency Greenwich. Tickets required. Foley and Malloy.
October 4, 6 p.m.: Progresso Latino forum, New Haven. Foley and Malloy.
October 5, 7 p.m.: Courant/Fox61 televised debate at The Bushnell in Hartford. Tickets required. Foley and Malloy.
October 6, 9 a.m.: Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford. Foley, Malloy and Marsh.
October 7, 8 a.m.: AJ and Chaz show, live radio debate broadcast by WPLR. Foley and Malloy.
October 7, 4 p.m.: Connecticut Partnership for Growth Forum, Northeast Utilities, Berlin. Foley and Malloy.
October 13, 7 p.m.: The Day/WTNH televised debate at The Garde Center for the Arts, New London. Tickets required. Foley and Malloy.
October 18, 3:30 p.m.: Connecticut Fund for the Environment debate, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven. Foley, Malloy and Marsh.
October 19, 3 p.m.: debate at Fairfield University broadcast by WFSB, WNPR and CPTV. Foley and Malloy.
October 20, 7 p.m.: Connecticut Daily Newspaper Association/UConn debate at UConn student union, Storrs. Malloy and Marsh.
October 25, 7 p.m.: Republican-American/Torrington chamber debate, Warner Theater. Foley and Malloy.
October 26, 7 p.m.: NBC30 televised debate. Foley and Malloy.
October 29: NAACP debate, time and place TBD. Foley, Malloy and Marsh.

I think that's ample.

Also, Blumenthal has been declining additional debates despite having far, far fewer on the calendar.

I would strongly disagree with you that "it's different this time" -- I would (as I did this summer) suggest that in fact, candidate debates make very little to no difference in the decision-making process of the public, and insofar as they do, it adds less to public understanding of the candidates and key policy issues than just about any other source of information available.

–7.25 / –7.28 | http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

by: mattw @ Mon Sep 27, 2010 at 21:59:34 PM UTC

But the list for joint appearances for Lamont and Malloy was also long (0.00 / 0)

The point is that, as CTBlogger and CTMirror point out, this was the first time that a major party candidate has refused to participate in a LWV-sponsored debate. And they simply canceled the proposed debate, rather than permit one of the candidates a free forum. That is what WNPR should have done.

by: thomashooker @ Mon Sep 27, 2010 at 22:03:59 PM UTC

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