On Wednesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell’s campaign challenged his opponent, Democrat State Senator Creigh Deeds, to a series of 10 debates for the fall general election campaign.
The debates are spread all over the commonwealth and span three months from late July to late October. A Roanoke debate sponsored by WSLS is one of the debates on the McDonnell proposal.
So far the Deeds campaign has said they are reviewing the McDonnell proposal. But, Deeds told the Washington Post that he wouldn’t let McDonnell “dictate” the schedule. And the campaign has indicated that they would favor fewer debates.
Ten debates is an ambitious number and would be a first in modern Virginia history for general election campaigns. Recently, our candidates have participated in just three debates. And, two of those three debates have been regional in nature and haven’t been televised. You have to go back to 2001 to find a statewide election that had more than three. That was the gubernatorial contest between Mark Warner and Mark Earley. They had four debates and two were televised statewide.
I don’t know if we’ll end up with ten debates. But, I certainly hope we end up with more than three. The people of Virginia deserve a mature, sober discussion of the issues facing the commonwealth. They deserve to know how our next leader will act on such weighty issues as fixing our transportation crisis, addressing budget shortfalls, possible tax increases, school safety, energy policy… well… it’s a long list.
So, fingers crossed that we will see Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell face off multiple times throughout the fall campaign. It will make for a better campaign and a more educated electorate. And that’s a good thing!
Posted by Jay Warren at 04:45 PM. Filed under: main •
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