-Caveat Lector-
Mondale doesn't show at debate
By Donald Lambro
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
ST. PAUL, Minn. � All the Senate candidates met here last night
for a prime-time TV debate � except former Vice President Walter
F. Mondale, who said he couldn't make it.
Three days after Mr. Mondale agreed to replace Democratic Sen.
Paul Wellstone on the ballot, Mr. Mondale, the 1984 Democratic
presidential nominee, still had not agreed to a time and place to
debate his Republican opponent, former St. Paul Mayor Norm
Coleman.
Mr. Mondale's absence � from a debate that Mr. Wellstone
agreed to many weeks ago � angered Republican state officials,
who charged that he was trying to avoid a debate and "play out the
clock" with only three more days remaining in a race that both sides
said was too close to call.
"The guy's got to earn it. This is not an entitlement. Part of
earning a U.S. Senate seat means debating your opponent,
especially a candidate who hasn't put himself up for elective office in
decades," said Bill Walsh, spokesman for the Minnesota Republican
Party.
Republican officials here say their party's tracking polls show that
"the race is tightening" and that Mr. Mondale may have peaked soon
after he was officially named the Democratic candidate. Mr.
Coleman's campaign headquarters has been besieged by phone
calls from volunteers and pledges of campaign contributions since
Democrats held a memorial service Tuesday night for of Mr.
Wellstone that turned into a raucous rally for Mr. Mondale.
"In the last three days, lines of voters have come by to pick up
more than 3,000 'Democrats for Coleman' yard signs," a Coleman
campaign official said.
Last night's debate was sponsored by KSTP, Channel 5, in St.
Paul and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Mr. Coleman participated,
along with two third-party candidates, Jim Moore of the
Independence Party and Ray Tricomo of the Green Party.
Tom Hauser, KSTP's chief political reporter, who moderated the
debate, said that it appeared that Mr. Mondale was "playing a Rose
Garden strategy" for the remainder of the campaign. Presidents who
get into political trouble have sometimes used managed events in
the White House Rose Garden to promote their image, while
avoiding outside public debate that raises questions about their
policies and positions.
Declining the invitation, Mr. Mondale told Mr. Hauser that "I have
to get around the rest of the state so that they can get a chance to
hear me and what I have in mind, and then we'll have a debate."
"I've always agreed to debate, but this is a very unusual
circumstance. I don't like it at all," he said.
But Republicans said that if Mr. Mondale needed to talk to voters,
statewide television was the most efficient way to do it. "He would
reach far more voters on TV than in a town meeting," said Ginny
Wolfe, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial
Committee.
Officials in both camps said there were discussions about
holding a debate and that Mr. Mondale's advisers wanted to hold
one on Monday, the final day of the campaign.
"We're talking to them, and they are talking to us. There will be a
debate," a Mondale campaign official said last night.
But Coleman strategists were opposed to holding a debate on
Monday, the day before voters go to the polls, because it would not
give voters and news organizations time to absorb, analyze and
critique what Mr. Mondale said. "We've never heard of a debate
being held the day before Election Day," said a Coleman campaign
official.
The NBC television affiliate here also has offered to hold a
debate this weekend, with "Meet the Press" interviewer Tim Russert
serving as the moderator, an offer Mr. Coleman has already
accepted. But there has been no response from the Mondale
campaign.
Last night, Mr. Coleman said that, if he is elected, he would
"reach across the aisle" in the Senate to work for energy
independence, Social Security reform and a prescription-drug
benefits plan.
Mr. Coleman, a Democrat-turned-Republican, repeated his
campaign theme that "the future is now" and that the old politics of
rigid partisanship and gridlock had to be overcome by problem-
solvers who can move legislation through.
Notably, despite months of Democratic attacks accusing him of
backing Social Security privatization, Mr. Coleman defended
President Bush's idea to let younger workers invest some of their
payroll taxes in stocks and bonds to build richer retirement savings.
But he said he would "not vote for anything that cuts one dime" from
what beneficiaries have paid into the system or what they have been
promised.
Mr. Coleman has been striking a generational theme in the final
days of the race, saying that this campaign "is about the future,"
thus implying that Mr. Mondale, 74 � who hasn't held elective office
in 22 years � represented the past.
Mr. Coleman, 53, has been flying around the state in a whirlwind,
final round of campaign appearances, in sharp contrast to Mr.
Mondale's more sedate schedule of two or three events a day.
--
Outgoing mail is certified virus free
Scanned by Norton AntiVirus
Politicians *are* interested in people. Not that this is always a
virtue. Dogs are interested in fleas.
~~P.J.O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores (1991)
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http://archive.jab.org/ctrl@;listserv.aol.com/
<A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/ctrl@;listserv.aol.com/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
