Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NACCP, said Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele will not commit to appearing at a debate the organization is sponsoring.
Cheatham said he has been calling the Steele campaign since August and has not received one call back.
“I would expect him to respond,” Cheatham said.
Cheatham said he has extended an invitation to Democrat candidate Ben Cardin and third-party candidate Kevin Zeese to debate Oct. 28 at the state convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Baltimore. Both candidates have accepted the invitation to appear at the convention, although Cardin?s campaign said he would debate only if Steele does so, Cheatham said.
Michael Vatz, professor of political communication at Towson University, said past experience may be the cause of Steele?s reluctance to commit.
“The NAACP debate in 2002 was an extremely hostile setting for both Bob Ehrlich and Michael Steele in 2002; it is possible that he feels it will be an unfriendly setting” for conservatives, Vatz said.
However, Cheatham said the debate, which is scheduled for Oct. 28 at the organization?s annual convention at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Baltimore, will be fair.
“There is nothing partisan, nothing racial, it?s just a good forum for voter education, and we think he should participate.”
The Steele campaign did not return numerous phone calls or an e-mails from The Examiner on Monday.
Orin Shur, spokesman for the Cardin campaign, said he could only discuss debates that had been approved by Cardin and Steele.
“The NAACP and its members are very important to Ben Cardin. We?ve agreed to keep all debate negotiations confidential until the final schedule is announced,” he said. “We certainly hope that an NAACP debate will be part of the final schedule.”
Shur said only two debates have been confirmed: A candidates? forum tonight sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Urban League, and a nationally televised debate on the NBC?s “Meet the Press” scheduled for Oct. 29.
