Declining Debates Becomes Bigger Problem for Lamont.
Ned Lamont’s refusal to debate Democratic gubernatorial primary opponent Dan Malloy has more legs than expected when Lamont first announced he would not participate in any debates with Malloy in the run-up to August 10th. WFSB and WNPR will challenge Lamont’s resolve. They are forging ahead with a joint August 3rd debate to which both Democrats have been invited. Malloy has accepted. Lamont has not.
The hourlong debate (or interview) will be broadcast twice on each station a week before the primary. Details are here. Lamont’s strategy is turning into a serious error. Four hours of programming without him will become a bigger story than any encounter with Malloy. The visuals ought to give Lamont some pause. He has handed Malloy, who is closing the gap with Lamont, a gift that keeps growing. Lamont is not at his best when debating, but no catastrophic performance comes to mind. A decisive error, however, appears to be taking shape.
Full marks to WFSB and WNPR for refusing to allow Lamont’s absence to cancel the program. It ought to be worth watching to see if co-moderators Dennis House and John Dankosky can make one candidate for governor interesting for an hour.
22 comments
I hate to say that anything Phil Giordano did was a good idea, but when Joe Lieberman refused to debate him during his ill-fated senate bid in 2000, he appeared at a debate with a cardboard cutout of the Joe.
It would be great if Dan adopted this strategy during the debate. I might even improve upon the idea by not using an actual picture of Ned, but instead a ridiculous looking cartoon of him.
I give credit for WFSB and NPR for going on with the show. I can only hope that WTNH and The Day decide to do the same. Just because Lamont refuses to debate doesn’t mean that Malloy should not be afforded the air time to reach out to voters.
Debates are pretty much worthless and boring.
So says a Lamont supporter.
Fuzzy took the words right out of my mouth – Giordano’s cardboard cut out stunt was HILARIOUS (in more ways than one).
EdM, you’re a Lamont supporter now!
I don’t hear anyone who genuinely wants to hear any more from these people — just those who think there’s something to gain by clubbing Lamont with the issue of debates. Tempest in a teapot.
LOL @ Grackle!
Ed M is a Foley supporter. Drinking the Kool-Aid
I eagerly await the August 3rd debate, at which these articulate, issue-oriented candidates will no doubt spend 90% of the allotted time talking about their respective positions on debates. Afterward, their supporters will debate who won the debate debate. (And this sh*t is *publicly* funded now? Seriously – where are the REAL candidates?)
ED M- Comment #10 should be removed.
It is a stupid move for Ned. It doesn’t matter whether you think debates are important or not. Its the perception that Ned is weak, is showing no leadership and is a not flexible in discussing his ideas. It looks like he is hiding in 60 second commericals and staged town hall meetings. That is does not care to be engaged period.
It is stupid strategically. Gubernatorial debates aren’t as watched as presidential debates, and unlikely to be a deciding factor in the primary… Unless he were to actually throw up on himself, I would posit that Ned is doing more damage to himself by not participating than he could possibly do by actually debating
I have to give Tom Foley credit. He’s also trying to buy the election, but at least he is willing to debate.
Ken, did you find Lembo’s public declaration yet?
I didn’t think so…….
Gee Ed, is that the best you can do. Of course, what can you say, he IS trying to buy the election.
Ken you’re really nothing but a $hit stirrer, is that the best you can do? We’re all still waiting for you to back up your claim that Lembo made a public declaration that he was running for Lieutenant Governor. Since you continue to ignore repeated requests for that, it’s obvious you’re lying once again.
Foley is trying to win an election and one thing anyone needs to do to win an election is raise money. Foley raised approximately $750,000.00 from individuals which is three times as much as Fidele raised from individuals. Fidele is lazy and ran a poor campaign all along. As a result, he will lose on August 10th. Simpletons like you are either jealous or mad because Foley actually ran a campaign against Fidele who shouldn’t even be in the race. The only reason he’s still in the race is because the SEEC broke the law and gave him taxpayer money he didn’t qualify for and is now giving him even more in supplemental grant money which has been declared unconstitutional.
Using your stupid logic, is Lamont trying to “buy the election” too? Is anyone who is not feeding at the public trough trying to “buy the election” in your mine? Saying that someone is “buying an election” is nothing more then being a whiny little baby boy kenny, is that the best you can do?
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The thing I don’t understand in this whole mess is, why the hell do the networks want to play hard all over deates. The ratings in the two telivised Guber debates so far have been terrible.
This is only an issue for the elites. Who the Hell is going to watch Malloy take softball questions for an hour? Ask yourself how many times Malloy debated DeStefano in 2006? Answer: once.
Ed, you are correct. Foley did raise three times as much as Fedele. But he did it with contributions up to 35 times as large as those permitted under the Citizens election program that you hate so much.
By my rough count, Foley has about 775 contributors. If each of them gave the CEP maximum of $100 he would have raised about 77,500, far less than the $250,000 required in order to qualify for the program. Not only could Foley not qualify to run for Governor, he could barely qualify to run for Lieutenant Governor (assuming all of his out of state contributions could be counted).
Face it. Without millions of follars of his own money, Foley would be dead in the water.
“Face it. Without millions of follars of his own money, Foley would be dead in the water.”
Possibly but gee, isn’t that just too freakin’ bad?
I still think you’re dead wrong because many, many people who I’ve talked to that are supporting Foley are not persuaded by his “money” but because they’ve investigated where he stands on the issues, they’ve looked at his plan and information on his website and they think he’s a far superior candidate than Fidele or Grebal.
You can whine all you want Kenny but a majority of the voters are going to vote for Foley on August 10th.
Did you ever read that book called “Sh*t My Dad Says?” There’s a fantastic quote on page 83 that is perfect for you:
“On the Democratic System:
We’re having fish for dinner. . . Fine, let’s take a vote. Who wants fish for dinner? . . . Yeah, democracy ain’t so fun when it f*cks you, huh?”
Another thing for you Kenny, money isn’t everything. McMahon claims she’s going to spend 50 million dollars of her own money.
She can spend 100 million and she still won’t crack 40% on November 2nd against Richard Blumenthal, 42% tops.