Word from the Tim Kaine Senate campaign is the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce/NBC4 and AARP debates are off because the Hung Cao campaign informed the organizers that he refused to participate.
Cao, the Republican nominee, had already skipped out on the July 20 Virginia Bar Association debate.
This means there will be just one debate between the two between now and Election Day – on Oct. 2 in Norfolk.
The odd thing here is: you’d think Cao, as a challenger down double-digits to a well-funded incumbent, would want as many chances to be seen side-by-side with the frontrunner on a big stage as he could get.
But then, Cao only took part in one of the 13 debates held in advance of the Senate Republican primary, and still somehow went on to win the nomination.
Maybe he thinks the less you see him, the less opportunity you’ll have to realize you don’t want to vote for him.
That’s just me speculating there.
Here’s a statement from Michael Beyer, communications director for the Kaine campaign, on the debate issue:
“As is tradition, Sen. Kaine accepted four invitations for debates and candidate forums in different regions of the Commonwealth. He is disappointed that his opponent has refused to participate in the first three. But he isn’t surprised – his opponent skipped 12 of 13 candidate forums during the GOP primary.
“Sen. Kaine looks forward to appearing with his opponent in Norfolk on Oct. 2 to talk about his record of standing up for Virginians and describing his ongoing work to create high-quality jobs, reduce healthcare costs, protect reproductive freedom, and support our military families and veterans.”
If I’m the Kaine campaign, it wouldn’t bother me at all that the other guy is barely there as a candidate, but that’s just me.
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Chris Graham
