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Posted on 10/10/2002 8:23:41 AM PDT by Coop
Frank R. Lautenberg wants all candidates included. Douglas Forrester sees a ploy to evade a direct duel.
By Tom Turcol
Inquirer Staff Writer
Former Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, seeming to retreat from his call for head-to-head debates with Republican Douglas Forrester, is now demanding that any debates include all the third-party candidates in New Jersey's U.S. Senate race.
Forrester quickly accused Lautenberg of trying to dodge a direct encounter, including two that ABC's This Week and NBC's Meet the Press are trying to schedule for their nationally televised Sunday programs.
Lautenberg's new proposal shows that he is "deathly afraid of sitting in a television studio - one on one, face to face, mano a mano - only with Doug Forrester," said Bill Pascoe, Forrester's campaign manager.
Lautenberg, named by Democratic officials last week as Sen. Robert G. Torricelli's replacement on the Nov. 5 ballot, countered that Forrester was using the debate over debates to divert attention from policy positions he would have a hard time defending.
For Lautenberg, a six-candidate debate would sharply limit his air time - exposing him to fewer questions and reducing the risk of making a mistake or seeming out of touch after almost two years away from Washington.
It would also give him an opportunity to marginalize Forrester, positioning him as one of five lesser-known candidates going up against someone who had been in the Senate for 18 years. Lautenberg was first elected in 1982 and retired in January 2001.
Forrester, by contrast, needs to challenge Lautenberg directly in an attempt to regain the momentum he lost when Torricelli dropped out of the race. Forrester, who had been pulling far ahead of Torricelli in polls, slightly trailed the Democrats' new candidate in the latest ones.
Lautenberg "wants to avoid as much air time and as many questions as possible," said David Rebovich, a political scientist at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.
"The Democrats are assuming that Lautenberg wins this one by running out the clock and not fumbling the ball," Rebovich added. "They're keeping him on a tight leash. A lot of debates and a lot of questions provide a greater opportunity for making a mistake."
If Lautenberg's debate proposal is approved, he and Forrester will be joined on stage by Libertarian Elizabeth Macron, Conservative Norman Wahner, Socialist Greg Pason, and Green Party nominee Ted Glick.
Forrester said yesterday that if those candidates were included, the debate should last at least two hours instead of the traditional hour.
The flare-up over debates gave both candidates a chance to play up their principal attack lines.
Lautenberg, in a bid to move the campaign onto the Democrats' turf, accused Forrester of trying to divert attention from issues such as abortion rights, gun control and Social Security. Forrester continued hammering away at the Democratic "boss politics" that he says produced the candidate switch.
During the last week, Lautenberg said, Forrester waged an unsuccessful court battle to keep him off the ballot, adopted the "Torricelli-Lautenberg machine" as his new campaign theme, and now is squabbling over the debate format.
Referring to the third-party candidates, the Democrat added: "If they have something to say, they ought to be able to say it."
Pascoe said it was "rank hypocrisy" for Lautenberg to make that assertion, given that, in the Democrats' successful court bid to allow their eleventh-hour candidate switch, they sought to trivialize the other candidates.
I think Lautenberg is beginning to realize exactly what he's gotten himself into.
I doubt Frankencorpse even realizes what year this is, the poor dear.
Forrester needs to get ads out showing Lautenberg saying "Anytime, anywhere" to debates, then showing Forrester on TV saying "I'm waiting". Couple that with "Why you should vote for me ads" and I think you have the right balance.
Perhaps 2 15-second spots running back to back. First the "Where's Frank" commercial, followed by a "Vote for me" commercial.
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*Cough* A FEW ?!
Taunt him. Ridicule works.
What we really want is to display the geezer for at least half the debate, possibly more if we can arrange it. He is his own worst enemy.
That gives me an idea for an even better political ad. Do a black-and-white TV ad that's a takeoff of the old Frankstein movies. Have a "mad scientist" who looks like McGreeney did up a grave that says "Lautenberg's political career", then bring it back to life using the "criminal brain" that's labeled "Torricelli for Senate". IT'S ALIVE!! IT'S ALIVE!!!
Haven't figured out who will play Igor yet... ;-)
As an incumbent with a large lead, sure. You don't want to give your opponent the exposure and the chance to better you.
In this case, I think Lautenberg's simply unprepared.
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