Posted on 03/15/2012 11:57:24 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
PORTLAND, Ore. – After months of planning, the Oregon Republican Party had to cancel their presidential debate just days before it was scheduled to happen.
The two leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, both declined invitations, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting, which was hosting the debate.
Without the front-runners, organizers decided it wasn’t worth holding the debate.
A party spokesman said the campaigns have changed strategies and don’t see the advantage of national debates. He said organizers did their best to make the debate happen, but in the end it wasn’t in the cards.
"It is disappointing," said Oregon Republican Party Chairman Allen Alley. "It's just the campaigns have moved to a different mode where they're going state by state, very tactical about delegates in each of those states."
Only Newt Gingrich had formally accepted the debate invitation, according to OPB.
Debate organizers offered to change the date or move the venue to Chicago ahead of next week’s Illinois primary, but the campaigns didn’t buy it.
Alley said they knew scheduling a debate after Super Tuesday would be "high risk, high reward."
The Republican Party, OPB and co-sponsor the Washington Times have invested large amounts of time organizing the debate, but the Oregon GOP spokesman said the cancellation won’t be a huge financial burden. They had not yet spent money on many of the large costs, such as venues and security.
Alley said the campaigns told him they would make visits to Oregon in May, before our primary.
The debate was set to be broadcast from OPB’s studio on Monday night. It would have been broadcast on public radio and TV stations across the country.
The "front-runners" running scared.
They want to deny the spotlight to Gingrich. He makes them look small.
They are cowards
Santorum will be vetted...when it’s too late.
You got that right...cowards. I wanted to know more about their thoughts on the UN and also on the UN human rights commission investigating the voter id program; wanted to know more about their solutions on energy and coal and in more detail; also, about the recent events in Afghanistan.
and especially how they view the constitution when it comes to their solutions. Of course if there was a debate..Newt would be the ONLY one talking about Obama..the other two cowards would be attacking Newt and their 100 yr marriages to the same spouse
Ricky and Romney know they can just hide behind their campaigns indefinitely.
Maybe Fred Karger and Buddy Roemer can debate. That’ll be... yawwwwwnnnnnn....exciting.
So Romney and Santorum are both afraid to debate Newt...
I wonder if Obama feels the same way?
Newt should show up and debate Obama in a virtual format
Without Romney, there is no reason for Santorum to debate in Portland, so I have been expecting this.
The MSM treats Newt as if being smart and wanting to learn and to do things was acting .......... arrogant.
________________________________
....“The thing I find most disheartening of this campaign is the difficulty of talking about large ideas on a large scale, because the news media can’t cover it and, candidly, my opponents can’t comprehend it,” Gingrich said, while also vowing to continue his campaign to the convention in Tampa this summer.
He called himself the only candidate of the four still in the contest “focused on ideas and … solutions and not just the usual politics,” and the only one advocating wholesale change to a political system that is “methodically and deliberately stupid.”
Other parts of his speech covered topics ranging from President Lincoln promoting the transcontinental railroad to the antifraud system of the American Express company. Gingrich spoke of the need for a “technological revolution” in government, but he lamented that no one but him seemed to understand that.
“Let me just talk for a second about technology and grand opportunities,” he said. “Other than Ronald Reagan, I know of no Republican in my lifetime who’s been able to talk about this. That’s why I’m still running.”
The former House speaker from Georgia has recently focused his campaign on high gas prices, promising as president to restore them to no more than $2.50 a gallon. But he often also speaks at length on a wide range of topics, covering everything from brain science to space exploration to the need to utilize modern management practices to reform entire sectors of the government.
“I want to be the candidate of science and technology,” he said. “Whether it’s on energy, it’s on stopping crooks in Medicare and Medicaid, it’s on getting into space, which I was ridiculed [for], or it is on helping you make sure that your family doesn’t suffer from something that could be avoided.”
And he chided fellow Republicans for failing to see the need for a party makeover. The GOP, he said, has been governing like the Democratic Party since 2006, when it lost control of the Congress.
“We cannot be a normal party,” he told the suburban Republican crowd. “If we run a normal campaign, trying to govern within the framework of the current system, we have no future, because people would rather have Democrats do it. They at least enjoy it.”
http://news.yahoo.com/gingrich-no-one-understands-235621781.html
The Oregon Republican Party is run by idiots. They should have gone ahead as planned. With Newt up there alone, he could get all the time he needed to show up Obama’s lies and schemes to socialize America.
Remember Newt’s plans to follow Obama around the country, appearing at each place after Obama and answering his arguments, just like the Lincoln/Douglas debates.
The offer was made to move it to Illinois.
Santorum and Romney can't afford to appear at any venue where there are compared to Newt's knowledge and his ability to explain the issues and solutions.
Front runners running scared?....It just never ends around here!!!!!!
.Rick Santorum was right there with Gingrich in the Alabama forum and did a fabulous job.
After 20 plus debates, if we, the people, haven't heard every issue discussed over, around and sideways, then we haven't been paying attention.
In Alabama they gave speeches.
There was no debate Guenevere.
This is priceless! -- Newt debates Barack! (pass it around)
Newt needs to take this ball and run with it.
He needs commercials that mention all the canceled
debates by name and each one showing Newt surrounded
by empty podiums.
Finally have him standing there and saying,
“I’m the last one standing, why would you vote
for anyone else?”.
That is a VERY good idea!
Of course Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum both declined, they are both pretenders and THEY ARE BOTH COWARDS..
Come over to the Santorum/internet thread. It’s hilarious! The nanny staters have revealed themselves!
Count on it.
Which is exactly why those picking Newt for his debate skills are holding out a false hope.
Have you ever listened to a British Parliament debate? Even the most obscure back bencher has superb debate skills compared to anything our congress has to offer with notable exceptions like Newt.
If you want to hone your rhetorical skills, the Brits are positively second to none. The Scots and the Irish, I admit, are pretty good-- which is why you have a lot of successful politicians of Irish extraction here in America. But to see the best, you need to go to London.
That doesn't necessarily mean they are right. It just means they are superb debaters. There is often a big difference between being right and being convincing.
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