Bachmann Agrees to Three Debates While Her Tea Party Protégés And Allies Continue To Hide

By Alex Seitz-Wald “Breaking a logjam that persisted after the August primary,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) today finally agreed to participate in three debates with her two opponents, Democrat Tarryl Clark and Independence Party nominee Bob Anderson. Bachmann had been “evasive about her plans,” forcing her opponents to cancel several events because she never responded to their requests.

Bachmann’s acquiescence was welcomed by her opponents and Minnesota political reporters, but she is unfortunately an outlier among uber-conservative Republican candidates this year. As Politico noted today, these candidates are “ducking public events, refusing to publicize the ones they do hold and skipping debates and national TV interviews altogether.” Indeed, across the country, tea party candidates and Bachmann protégés are refusing to debate:

– Rep. Steve King (R-IA), Bachmann’s “best friend in Congress,” with whom she shares staff, has never participated in a formal debate since arriving in 2003. When Democratic nominee Matt Campbell publicly confronted King in August about his refusal to debate, King replied, “And my answer to that is that, judging by the fashion that you’ve conducted yourself, you have not earned it. Thank you. Next question.”

– Nevada GOP Senate nominee Sharron Angle, whom Bachmann praised for “doing a fantastic job,” abruptly canceled a debate last month that she herslef had requested. In June, Angle looked into a TV camera and said, “What I would like to see is Harry Reid come into this studio and have a true debate, and on the issues.” Nonetheless, when given that opportunity, she refused, bizarrely explaining that she canceled because, “We wanted an informed electorate.”

– Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), whose Senate bid was endorsed by Bachmann, wrote a letter to his opponent in August inviting her to participate in six debates — he subsequently backed out of all but two of those.

– Illinois GOP congressional nominee Bobby Schilling, whom Bachmann endorsed, has been resisting holding televised debates with moderators, preferring un-televised town halls instead, in which the public asks the questions.

– Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), whom Bachmann has praised as a model governor, has long refused to debate his opponents or meet with newspaper editorial boards. Yesterday, he was slammed in an unprecedented above-the-fold, above-the-nameplate editorial with an all caps headline, “TIME FOR RESPECT – Governor Perry Should end his silence.”

– Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R), who received praise from Bachmann for signing her state’s draconian new immigration, said she will only debate if her poll numbers drop: “Maybe there would be a possibility that we would debate if my numbers starting dropping dramatically,’’ she said.

– Texas GOP congressional nominee Francisco “Quico” Canseco, whom Bachmann has endorsed, is refusing to meet with the editorial board of his hometown paper, the San Antonio Express-News, claiming an “inherent bias” in favor of his opponent, Rep. Ciro Rodriquez (D-TX).

These tea party candidates have eagerly followed Bachmann’s lead in their quest to appeal to her devoted fan base. They would do well to follow her lead in debating as well, in order to appeal to the broader public — that is, of course, unless they’ve made the calculation that revealing the true extent of their extreme beliefs will actually alienate mainstream voters, instead of attracting them.

Joining A Growing Number Of Incumbents, Rep. Issa Refuses To Debate His Opponent This Year

And it's not just Rick Snyder avoiding debates By Tanya Somanader Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is fully embracing his role as the Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, eager to “subpoena the rats and cockroaches” in his crusade to impeach President Obama. While relishing his “duties” as a Oversight Committee member, there is one civic responsibility the five-term incumbent is dodging: the duty to debate.

According to the North County Times, Issa is now “refusing to debate his Democratic opponent” Howard Katz (D-CA), after personally agreeing to do so “when the two chatted at a July 3 parade” in Oceanside, CA. Katz contends that Issa said he’d “certainly” debate him “on a date that works with my schedule so I can come.” But now, Issa’s spokesman Kurt Bardella insists that “the topic of debate never came up” and, “because the economy is a free fall,” his job in “continuing the process of oversight” outweighs is responsibility to participate in a debate:

“I was asking him about a debate and he said, ‘Certainly, just make it on a date that works with my schedule so I can come,’” said Katz, a Temecula resident.

Bardella denied that Issa, R-Vista, ever agreed to debate whether he should continue to represent the district that includes much of North County and Southwest Riverside County.

“The topic of a debate never came up,” Bardella said Tuesday. “He (Issa) has never made any kind of promise or commitment to debate.”[...]

Bardella said Issa is concentrating on his role as the ranking Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a powerful panel he will lead if the GOP wins enough seats on Nov. 2 to wrest control of the House from the Democrats.

“This is a situation where the economy is in a free fall and the people are in a free fall,” Bardella said. “The congressman is focused on doing his job and continuing the process of conducting oversight.”

Katz insists that Bardella is telling a “fib” and even released a picture of the two talking at the parade “where he swears the promise was made.” Katz needed the debate because he is in a “‘David versus Goliath’ matchup” against “one of the wealthiest members of Congress.” Libertarian candidate Mike Paster (CA) shares Katz’s debate frustrations after “he was unsuccessful in repeated efforts to get someone from Issa’s office to respond to his call for a debate” last week.

While Issa may have specific reasons to be wary of public scrutiny, his debate denial reflects a growing number of House candidates “who are flat-out refusing” to debate challengers. Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has never formally debated a Democratic challenger, told his opponent that he hadn’t “earned” the right to debate him. And while Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) is willing to debate his opponent, he is backing out of all but two of the debates he originally proposed.