Posted on 11/02/2002 1:07:08 PM PST by bigaln2
BY TOM WEBB
Pioneer Press
The U.S. Senate campaigns of Democrat Walter Mondale and Republican Norm Coleman have agreed to hold a debate Monday morning, according to the Mondale campaign. The debate is set for 10 a.m. Monday morning at the Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. Sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio and KARE-11 television, the debate will be broadcast live and the stations will allow any station to rebroadcast the debate Monday evening, according to the Mondale campaign.
Mondale staffers said CNN is considering carrying the debate live, underscoring the importance placed on the Minnesota Senate race by the rest of the country.
Only Coleman and Mondale will debate, excluding Independence Party candidate Jim Moore and Green Party candidate Ray Tricomo. “Our proposal was for all four,” Mondale said Saturday during a campaign stop on the Iron Range in northern Minnesota.
“I’ve been very flexible on it. I want the debate,” Mondale said of negotiations between the two campaigns.
I truly hope and pray that the optimism is deserved. The recent moves by the RATS have left me feeling very uneasy. (Of course, it could just be the burrito I had at Toxic Hell yesterday for lunch.) The pessimist in me won't let me get too excited yet.
I KNOW that there are just too many, er, cerebrally challenged voters out there who will still support the fading RAT party.
To them all I say, "Let them eat cheese!" (Sound of mousetraps snapping in the background.)
If Mondale flexed any more, he'd break.
It will be mostly Freepers. There's not enough time to do anything but critique it in 30 seconds or less on network news that night.
Remember, the full effect of the debacle at the Wellstone funeral/pep rally took at least 24 hours to shake out.
Still, Mondale will get creamed, and it may hurt a little locally.
The Democrat strategy will be to make sure the people asking the questions frame them to help Mondale (possibly give him the questions in advance) and give Mondale a bunch of one-liner quips to spout to show that he's still a sharp cookie.
Jim Moore Demands Mondale Debate
"Minnesotans Deserve Equal Access to all of the Candidates Views"
October 31th (sic), 2002
Yesterday morning, I issued in a press release calling for a moratorium on all political advertising in the US Senate Race and replacing them with a series of debates that include all major party candidates. The difficult turn of events as a result of Senator Wellstone's death last Friday has left very little time for Minnesotans to evaluate and contrast the positions of the various candidates. We now only have five days in which to provide this critical information to voters. I am convinced that debates are the best means to reach all Minnesota voters in such a short time frame. Today former Vice President Mondale declared on both WCCO radio and MPR that he only wants one debate and declined to appear on the KSTP/Star Tribune debate rescheduled for tomorrow night. I believe that his position is a disservice to the voters of Minnesota and now demand that he reevaluate his position. Avoiding debates, meeting with a handful of voters and riding on his excellent resume are simply not enough. If he wants to be our US Senator for the next six years, he needs to campaign and earn it clearly differentiating himself from the other candidates. Giving Minnesota voters the ability to compare and contrast all major party candidates in a series of state wide televised debates is simply the most democratic position to take and would be a beautifully respectful honor to Senator Wellstone who cherished debate forums.
Furthermore, I would like to call attention to the media's recent coverage of this race. By shutting down our campaigns through the memorial service Tuesday night as a show of respect to those who perished in last week's crash, my campaign as well as the campaign of Green Party candidate Ray Tricomo were virtually ignored while the media focused on the Senate campaign machinations of the Republican and Democratic parties. It was bad enough that the two big old parties couldn't put politics on hold for a period of mourning. But when their activities were rewarded by media coverage that virtually ignored the two other major party candidates in this race, the public was ill served.
In summary, I renew my call for Vice President Mondale to agree to a series of debates and that the media cover this race and all of its candidates. The Independence Party has earned and retained major party status and I have run a clean, issue based campaign worthy of coverage. Minnesotans deserve better.
Source: KSTP-AM news, 3.30 PM
The format will be as follows:
The first 20 minutes will involve questions from two journalists: Gary Eichten from Minnesota Public Radio and Paul Magers from KARE-11 (NBC). The final 40 minutes are going to involve questions from the audience. I wholly expect that all of the audience questions will be complete softballs.
Around noon: So who will be replacing Mondale on the ballot after the debate?
From what I have seen from Mondull I have to wonder how long the debate is scheduled to last, since it takes him about 30min. to say hello! IMHO in a debate Norm will "eat Mondull alive" for Mondull hasn't a clue as to what is going on politically in MN these day's except for what he is being told by the DNC.
More dead Democrats to the rescue
Well, that's great. We can safely assume Eichten's commie leanings, and we have to count on a local NBC reporter for balance? I don't think so.
Released October 31th (sic)
Tricomo Calls for More Debates, Comments on Wellstone Memorial Service
Ray Tricomo, Minnesota's Green U.S. Senate candidate, is calling upon the news media to immediately schedule more candidate forums.
"In these dark days since Paul Wellstone's passing, there were a number of debates that were cancelled, but have yet to be rescheduled. My friends, Election Day is less than five days away, and the public is trying to make up their minds on who they will choose to be their next senator," said Tricomo.
Tricomo applauds Independence Party candidate Jim Moore for holding a press conference today calling for daily candidate forums that welcome all of the major party candidates.
Tricomo said, "I heard the Vice President (Walter Mondale) say that he may be too busy to debate Jim, Norm and me more than once between now and the Fifth. That is his choice, but I would not expect this to stand in the media's way anymore than if I said I had a schedule conflict."
Tricomo added that he is glad that KSTP-TV is still planning to hold their debate tomorrow night even though Mondale will not be attending. He also said that he appreciates the extended coverage by MPR.
He went on to comment on the Wellstone memorial service: "On Tuesday, we witnessed what should have and could been a memorial for, and a celebration of, the lives of the late and lamented Paul & Shelia Wellstone. Sadly, however, the effort took on aspects one would associate with a partisan nominating convention. What made this even more frustrating is that it was televised. So much for equal time."
Mondale's views will be new to viewers (if not to Mondale, as well), and Coleman may do well when refuting them because viewers will be familiar with Coleman's positions, and hopefully, more comfortable with them by the time that Mondale presents his views. Also, Mondale risks not having many people see the debate, due to its early time and the chance that people will watch Monday Night Football instead (imagine the complaints if Minnisota affiliates bump MNF for a replay of the debate -- they'll blame Mondale for not showing up on Friday like he should have).
If Mondale does poorly, no post-debate critique will be necessary. If Mondale does well, there won't be time to trump his performance. In either case, first impressions will be of a young future vs. an old past.
Maybe it will be a case of "So goes Minnisota, so goes the nation." The Democrats have conducted themselves so poorly during this election (dare I say, their behavior was unbecoming of the high office they seek), that it will leave a bad taste in voter's mouths and the ill-feelings they garnered may spread come 2004.
-PJ
But, the networks will snippet parts of Mondale's remarks where he is somewhat coherent, while they also do their best to vilify Coleman, a Republican.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire" mombonn said.
I hope he goes down in flames - BIG TIME!
My 85-year old Dad with dementia makes Fritz look good, and Dad doesn't remember remember from 5 minutes ago why he's been living with us for the past 2 years.
Wait and see: Mondale's gonna bring up some "damning discovery" about Coleman tomorrow or early Monday, and the whole "debate" will be devoted to it.
The Monday evening news cycle gets devoted to Coleman's "shifty" responses and "serious doubts" by carefully-chosen passers-by, and that's the election.
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