Republican challenger Mike McFadden will pay to rebroadcast his first debate with Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., in an unusual campaign tactic that reflects the longshot GOP challenger’s satisfaction with his inaugural debate performance.
McFadden’s campaign announced Friday that it had bought one hour of airtime Saturday afternoon in the Twin Cities TV market to replay the debate. It will pay $5,000 for the broadcast, according to a local CBS affiliate.
During the debate, which was held at 8 a.m. in Duluth Oct. 1, McFadden aggressively portrayed Franken as partisan and criticized him for being too close to President Obama, mentioning repeatedly that Franken voted with Obama 97 percent of the time.
“Senator Franken has gone to great lengths to keep his head down, but that’s not going to stop us from ensuring that Minnesotans have a chance to see this debate,” McFadden said in a statement announcing that the debate would be re-aired. “As I mentioned several times in the debate, Senator Franken has voted with President Obama 97 percent of the time, putting his party before the people of Minnesota. Once again I’ll be using this debate to show Minnesotans where Senator Franken and I differ and how I’ll approach the important issues facing this nation.”
The campaign said that both candidates’ answers would air in their entirety, although some of the moderators’ questions would be cut down to meet time constraints.
McFadden, an investment banker, trails first-term senator Franken in the polls by an average of 11.5 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics. The two candidates are slated for two more debates before the Nov. 4 election.
