As I See It
Sadly, political debates becoming more rare
Political debates can be an important tool for helping voters get to know candidates for office and learn their views on the issues important to them. However, it appears such debates are largely becoming a thing of the past. Tonight, JD Vance and Tim Walz will meet in their only debate before the election. As we have seen, debates can make or break a candidate’s chances, and we get to see how they react in difficult situations. But in western Wisconsin, political debates have become a rarity. For as many years as I can remember, candidates for Congress and state offices would agree to debate one another, almost without exception. In our area such debates were often organized by the UWL political science department, often in conjunction with the League of Women Voters. But for this upcoming election, only one local race will feature a debate. Brad Pfaff and Stacy Klein have agreed to debate on the UWL campus on October 16. But organizers could not get candidates for other local races to agree to debate. Steve Doyle, Tara Johnson and Jill Billings all agreed, but opponents Ryan Huebsch, Loren Oldenburg and Cedric Schnitzler all declined, citing scheduling conflicts. There are no plans for a debate in our local race for Congress between Derrick Van Orden and Rebecca Cooke. That is unfortunate, but seemingly a popular trend. Skipping debates may be smart politics, but it does nothing to help voters make informed decisions before they cast their ballots.
Bob N.
October 1, 2024 at 7:29 am
You guys really don’t get it, do you? It’s like you invite people to your house for Thanksgiving, then slowly the crowd thins out and no one accepts your invitation. Then you think there’s something wrong….with them.
For years, the media bragged amongst themselves on how they would lay traps for candidates with “gotcha” questions, then laugh amongst themselves over drinks, afterwards, as candidates were made to look bad and the follow-up media drove the point home for days. You think people don’t know this?
Van Orden knows this as he turned down your “invitation” 2 years ago and you still haven’t forgiven him for it. He won anyway.
Get your act together and quit playing tricks on people and maybe your Thanksgiving guests will show up.
Libertarian Guy
October 1, 2024 at 7:40 am
I Ibhave to agree fully with Bob N and add a few additional thoughts. Since we all know, your political bias, this is easy to spot. If it’s Republicans who skip debates, that’s an opportunity for you to criticize Republicans. So of course, you jump on the opportunity. Objective debates seem to have gone the way of the dodo bird generally after the Nixon administration. Instead of each candidate getting the same question, the people running the debates have chosen questions that are selective and designed to be Gotcha questions. So why should Republicans participate in debates when clearly there is bias, fact checking against one, but none against the other candidate, etc. Also, debates tend to be uninteresting. Something that would spice up interest would be to put all eligible candidates on the debate stage. Instead, the two-party system excludes competition By creating criteria That eliminates others, including people who have achieved ballot access. so we just get the same old, talking points and speeches during debates, instead of real political discourse. Before you blame the candidates, take a look in the mirror and understand why candidates decline the invitation.
Walden
October 1, 2024 at 2:29 pm
A biased media.
A biased UWL political science professor.
A left wing outfit that the League of Women Voters has become.
Tell me again why any local Republican would agree to a debate.
Lets see how Stacey Klein is treated after her debate with WIZM’s own Photo-Pfaff. The debate will be analyzed by Dem chair Garcia the following day.
By the way, Hovde and Baldwin are scheduled to debate Oct 18. Baldwin will have to defend her record in the event she is questioned about it.