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PA candidates hide behind ads, don't debate
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Substantive discussion, much like third parties and independents, have little place in our state's democracy.
PA candidates hide behind ads, don't debate
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Follow on Twitter @DanielDenvir
Whether you take a shot each time Obama utters “let me be clear” or Romney touts “job creators,” presidential debates are one of the few moments in national politics that inspire drinking for not purely depressive reasons. Sadly, Pennsylvania candidates running for U.S. Senate and Attorney General have yet to debate. It turns out that substantive discussion, much like third parties and independents, have little place in our state's democracy.
The race for Attorney General, a position that is both important in and of itself and a traditional launching pad for future governors, has so far been defined by television ads. Kathleen Kane, who would become the first Democrat to hold the office since 1980 when it first became an elected position, has been polling ahead of Republican David Freed.
Freed campaign manager Tim Kelly says that one debate has been scheduled for Harrisburg on October 22—yes, just two weeks before the election. That means that most of the race has been about ads and the money behind them. The national Republican State Leadership Committee, an outfit with ties to Governor Tom Corbett and natural gas drillers, ran an incredibly creepy one that pictured a little girl walking down the street and getting abducted by someone in a creepy white van, suggesting that Kane was “soft” on rape as a Lackawanna County assistant district attorney. It turns out Kane had little to do with the case referenced in the ad, and the father of the victim called the ads “offensive” and a “lie.”
Meanwhile, it appears that Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey will suddenly have to actually campaign for his reelection against Republican Tom Smith, a very wealthy mining company owner who no one paid any attention to until polls last week showed him 10 points or less behind. (Case in point: Casey's website has no contact information beyond a PO box.) So why no debates?
“It is strange,” says most-quoted-man-on-state-politics and Franklin and Marshall political scientist Terry Madonna. “I would think there would be debates scheduled all over the state. This tells me that none of these candidates want one.”
Casey campaign manager Larry Smar tells CP he “assume[s] something will be scheduled, but nothing is on the books”--a sentiment that Smith campaign manager Jim Conroy confirmed by phone. Once again: the clock is ticking, and so far what passes for a campaign has consisted of Casey advertisements reminding voters that Smith likes the Tea Party and that he, like the Paul Ryan who wants to raise taxes on the middle class and cut them for the rich, is a Republican. Smith's ads say that Bob Casey has gotten nothing done because he is a politician, unlike all the stuff Smith will get done because he is a businessman.
In Bucks County, where Democrat Kathy Boockvar is challenging U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick in the most competitive of three PA suburban house races, there are already three debates scheduled. Though it's not like anticipated debates have raised the bar or kept national Republicans from running ads labeling Boockvar “a radical activist lawyer on the fringe of the left.” Spokespeople for the other two Democratic challengers in the suburbs, Manan Trivedi and George Badey, say that the more comfortable Republican incumbents they're challenging, Reps. Jim Gerlach and Pat Meehan, have refused to debate.
Democracy in Pennsylvania so far consists of money and attack ads—par for the course in post-Citizens United America. But I wish that Pennsylvanians would demand better when it comes to state-level races.
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