Well, it wasn’t the five debates Democratic challenger Rick Noriega demanded, but incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn announced today that he will agree to two debates this fall: October 9 in Houston and October 16 in Dallas. Both will be on public television, the former on KUHT’s Red White & Blue public affairs show and the latter on KERA.
Both camps immediately hurled accusations at each other over just who really wants to debate.
“True to form, Rick Noriega has been equivocating for five days on whether he would attend these debates – even though he has issued multiple debate challenges in the manner of a typical struggling candidate,” read Cornyn’s press release. “Perhaps he can’t find time to accept these debates because he’s too busy preparing another press release challenging Senator Cornyn to debate.”
“John Cornyn’s decision to accept only two of the proposed debates while touting his openness to debate, is another example of Cornyn saying one thing and doing another,” replied the Noriega camp. Continuing their call for five debates in all geographic regions of the state, Noriega spokeswoman Holly Shulman said, “This election isn’t only about people who live in Houston and Dallas. This is about all Texans, regardless of geography or the demographic. Texans need the chance to hear from their candidates on the issues that affect them every day.”
Sheesh. This is gonna be fun.
This article appears in August 22 • 2008.