The CBS News affiliate in Denver, Colo., KCNC-TV, is deeply unimpressed with Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall’s failure to agree to a live debate with his Republican challenger, Rep. Cory Gardner.
The scorned news team noted in this scathing three-minute segment that this race will mark the first time in the station’s history that an incumbent senator has failed to show up to debate his opponent live on camera.
CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd called Udall’s refusal both “disappointing” and “unfortunate.”
“Live debates are the one opportunity voters have to see candidates go toe-to-toe without a media filter. The clarity of their vision and courage of their conviction; how they think on their feet and respond under pressure,” Boyd said. “We’ve been trying to schedule this debate for more than two months.”
Udall and his team explained that the Democratic Senator is booked through Nov. 4 and he simply can’t commit to the dates proposed by the Colorado news crew.
“Unlike attack ads that cost millions of dollars to air, it was free air time. But incumbent Sen. Mark Udall said, ‘No thanks,’ ” Boyd added.
“I think it will cause many a voter to ask, ‘Why? Why didn’t you go on TV and do the live debate?’” one Democratic analyst, Penfield Tate, told the news team, adding that Udall’s refusal to do the debate could actually hurt him in the polls.
“Sometimes you have the colossal blunder, and sometimes you have the death of a thousand cuts. This could be one of those cuts, that combined with others, could be harmful, absolutely,” Tate said.
