[Tamzee]

If Arnold has asked that the questions be posed to the participants Sept 24th without being known ahead of time...

But Tom has not done so...

We could make the accusation that it is TOM afraid to go head to head with "scary questions" and has only been blowing hot air pretending to challenge Arnold to a real debate (knowing full well it would be a politically-rookie mistake for the front-runner to debate more than a bare minimum).

Please stop hinting that Arnold is a coward to avoid real debate until you can show that Tom has ALSO requested not to get the questions in advance for big debate in 10 days.

[PhilDragoo]

If Arnold has asked that the questions be posed to the participants Sept 24th without being known ahead of time...

But Tom has not done so...

We could make the accusation that it is TOM afraid to go head to head with "scary questions" and has only been blowing hot air pretending to challenge Arnold to a real debate

A psychological mechanism known as projection.

[SteveH]

...knowing full well it would be a politically-rookie mistake for the front-runner to debate more than a bare minimum...

Well, if even Arnold supporters are boxed into a corner conceding this point, then why ever do Arnold supporters advocate putting a POLITICAL ROOKIE into the CHIEF EXECUTIVE POSITION for the FIFTH LARGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD?

The premise seems comically out of kilter with rational thought processes to begin with.

I don't know that the motivation is really that political veteran Tom is scared to debate a "political novice". I'll use Ockam's Razor as a reality check instead. You don't seem to know that Tom has not requested that, so you might want to establish that before asking the conditional first.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, as Carl Sagan would say...