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Who won't debate? Udall slams Schaffer claim

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 18, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated September 18, 2008 at 3:03 a.m.

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Democrat Mark Udall doesn't want to debate.

That's what Republican Bob Schaffer tells voters, most recently at an event in north Denver last week.

Udall's campaign is furious that Schaffer - and his campaign manager, Dick Wadhams - consistently peddle the "He won't debate" line.

Udall spokeswoman Tara Trujillo said the two Senate candidates already have debated six times and have eight more lined up.

"I have two concerns here. One is that Bob Schaffer can't count. The other is that he is dishonest," she said.

"Doesn't he realize that if we can't trust him now, how can we trust him as our next U.S. senator?"

Trujillo also pointed out that it was Schaffer who advised Republican Bruce Benson to stop debating during the 1994 gubernatorial campaign.

Benson said so in a radio interview at the time.

Wadhams maintains that Schaffer's campaign has been "dragging Boulder liberal Udall kicking and screaming into every debate we've scheduled."

"I can tell you that Meet the Press had pretty well given up on him," Wadhams said. "The producers didn't think he was going to do it.

"We pretty much shamed them into accepting the debate."

Udall, a fifth-term congressman from Eldorado Springs, and Schaffer, a former three-term congressman from Fort Collins, are embroiled in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country.

They are vying to succeed Republican U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, of Loveland, who is retiring in January.

Wadhams ran Allard's 2002 re- election campaign against Democrat Tom Strickland. At the time, Wadhams said 12 to 14 debates was more than enough for any race.

Allard juggled campaigning with his Washington schedule while Strickland campaigned full time. Strickland accepted candidate invitations that Allard's campaign rejected.

This time around, Schaffer is the one campaigning full time.

The former congressman quit his job at a Denver-based energy company in January.

Reminded of that Wednesday, Wadhams said that the difference is that Udall is turning down debates that candidates traditionally attend, including before Action 22.

The group represents civic, business and government interests in Colorado's 22 southern counties.

"They said he had a tight schedule. We're extremely disappointed," said Cathy Garcia, chief executive officer and president of Action 22.

The group always has its annual meeting during the last weekend in September, she said, and in previous years, sitting senators, governors and congressmen have been able to fit the debate into their schedules.

Wadhams also was critical of Udall for not scheduling a debate with any Colorado Springs TV station and with radio talk-show host Mike Rosen.

"Strickland accepted those debates," Wadhams said.

Trujillo said that hundreds of Colorado groups have asked to be able to sponsor debates and the campaign can't accommodate all of them.

Last May, Schaffer proposed seven loosely structured debates, Lincoln-Douglas style, to be held over the summer.

Udall said he wanted debates, but supported a format in which Coloradans could ask questions.

Last week, Schaffer told the Colorado Republican National Hispanic Assembly that his campaign has tried "to get a bunch of debates scheduled."

He joked that when his office is asked to participate, the answer is yes, even it means double-booking debates.

"We've quickly come to discover what the Udall answer is, and that's debating topics out in the open in front of large crowds does not lead more people to vote for Mark Udall, it leads more people to vote for us," Schaffer said.

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327

Upcoming debates Republican Bob Schaffer and Democratic Mark Udall have eight more debates scheduled, including:

* AARP and KWGN-Channel 2, to be taped from 1-2 p.m. Saturday, and broadcast 9 p.m. on Sept. 27

* Meet the Press, Sept. 28

* Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Oct. 7

* Rocky Mountain News, CBS4 News, KBDI-Channel 12, Oct. 30

Republican Bob Schaffer says he's ready to debate Democrat Mark Udall any time, any place, but Schaffer wasn't always so keen on debating.

In 1998, Schaffer balked at participating in a congressional debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters. His campaign said the group was too liberal, according to reports at the time.

In 1994, Schaffer ran for lieutenant governor with gubernatorial candidate Bruce Benson, who abruptly canceled all scheduled debates with his Democratic opponent, Gov. Roy Romer.

Benson told conservative radio talk-show host Mike Rosen it was Schaffer's idea to quit debating. Benson said he was talking with his family and the campaign about how they were "wasting so much time" preparing for debates and debating, and not talking about the issues they wanted to with voters.

"Bob Schaffer is actually the one that said, 'Let me tell you what I think we ought to do. I think we ought to cancel the debates,' " Benson told Rosen.

Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, was incredulous that the Udall campaign dug up a 14-year-old interview.

"Are they hiding behind the Benson campaign of 1994 for being afraid to debate defense issues in Colorado Springs?" Wadhams said.

Comments

  • September 18, 2008

    3:13 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    I.love.my.kids writes:

    It is obviously silly for the schaffer campaign to bemoan the fact that udall won't debate if they have already done 6, with 8 to go. HOWEVER, i have been to several of the debates, and udall's constant use of empty platitudes calling for bipartisanship and folkesy stories about his background hardly match his long record of supporting special interests. I want to hear about the issues! How can udall support the Employee Free Choice Act that takes away private ballots votes? How can he continue to stall on energy development when our fuel prices have skyrocketed? I find it hard to believe that he won't govern the entire state the way he governed the liberal enclave of boulder...