New Hampshire?s primary election is less than three weeks away. Gubernatorial candidates are debating. Senate candidates are debating. Even all those Republicans running in the first congressional district have debated. But no debate has been scheduled in the 2nd congressional district. As NHPR's Dan Gorenstein reports, that race's frontrunners fault scheduling, their opponents accuse them of cheating the voters.
7:43 dated august 8, Dear mr. Jackman, Leadership NH regrets to inform you that the political debate for the contenders in CD 2, has been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts with some of the candidates. We appreciate your interest in the Leadership forum?(fade this out)
Norm Jackman, Democratic candidate for Congress, reads the letter he received from Leadership New Hampshire. The non-profit tried to schedule a congressional debate for months. This cancellation added to the list of missed opportunities for Jackman to debate the other democrat running in the primary, Katrina Swett.
11:51 ?I am disappointed b/c I feel it is a matter of the public?s right to know. I have position. Katrina has a position. Let bothg of us state it, so we know where we stand. Isn?t that what the first amendment is all about.
But in politics, argues Dartmouth government professor Linda Fowler, debates are also about the time-honored strategy of avoiding risk, especially when a politician enjoys a comfortable lead in the polls. Swett has a 48 point advantage over Jackman according to a June UNH poll.
3:33 why risk being out front with a challenger, giving that challenger free media, giving her opportunity shot at me, when I don?t have to?
14:26 this isn?t a matter of a candidate?s best strategy for themselves, the question is what is the best for the voting public?
Norm Jackman.
?What does the public have a right to know. IN this democracy, the public has the right to know a candidates stand on issues.
Katrina Swett agrees. She just thinks the candidates? websites, local engagements and multiple candidate nights offer voters sufficient information to reveal any difference between her and Jackman.
Swett says it isn?t that she is reluctant to debate her democratic rival.
7:22 ? We are just using our time that we feel is the best. Directing our limited resources in those places where we think it is most useful. There have been lots of candidate nights, lots of opportunities to be with Norm, to address voters as candidates. We haven?t had a strict formal debate. ? It?s just a matter of trying to schedule me the most effectively.
Swett admits from Day 1, she has been running not against Norm Jackman but against Republican Congressman Charlie Bass. And the incumbent Bass is no different. In interviews, he is much more likely to mention the name ?Swett,? than he is of his Republican challenger, Gene Douglass. And just like Swett?s campaign, Bass spokesperson Sally Tibbets says other events take priority over a primary debate.
Track 10
:00 ?The congressman has a limited amount of time. He has to prioritize, and determine what things he can do to make the best use of his time for his constiuients. And at this time, debating or discussing issues with Douglass isn?t one of the best uses of his time.
Bass is scheduled to tour the North Country on a bus trip the day Leadership New Hampshire is holding their political forum. But Douglass, who trails Bass in that same UNH poll by 75 points, can?t understand why the Congressman doesn?t set a primary debate as a priority.
4:52 the value for him is he can conscisely give reasons for why he voted a certain way, it educates his constituients about why he is in there in the first place. That does a public service. Whether it is politically beneficial, that is a choice he should make when he votes. And he should be able to defend cogently, why he voted a certain way. But in reality he has been hiding from the public on these issues and it?s a situation where it is my responsibility to point out how he has been voting with the liberal democrats.
Although Representative Bass didn?t personally want to discuss the issue, his spokesperson Sally Tibbets says the Congressman isn?t hiding from his record. She points to town meetings, open office hours, and a public record all voters are welcome to see.
Taking into accout the big leads Bass and Swett have, it may seem reasonable the two would not bother debating their respective challengers. They have nothing to win and only their lead to lose. But Dartmouth professor Fowler suggests the system itself may lose.
Without a primary debate, she says, some constituents may skip voting all together because they don?t perceive the race to be a real contest. But, Fowler admits a debate won?t change the out come of the election. Anyway, New Hampshire voters should thank their lucky stars, because they?ve got a good congressional race going.
16:51 What people forget is that there is a very intense battle going on between D and R for control of Congress, but the fact of the matter is that those battles are being fought in a small number of districts. I would say the voters here are in a lot better shape than voters in most places. SO the fact that there isn?t a debate in the primary isn?t really something to cry about?unless you are the challenger.
For NHPR News, I?m DG.
