"The shell game Perry is playing with debates is just making the people more angry."
Candidates for governor to face off in only debate
Tonight's event fails to stir much interest
October 06, 2006
Sonny Long
The Victoria Advocate
Copyright 2006
If there is an opposite of "much ado about nothing" - something like "little interest in something important" - then that perfectly describes the general consensus of the amount of attention being paid locally to tonight's Texas gubernatorial debate.
The debate is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be seen only on Belo Corp.-owned television stations, including KENS Channel 5 in San Antonio and KHOU Channel 11 in Houston. It will also be carried by the Texas Cable News Network. The debate is also being made available for broadcast on Texas State Network radio stations. Russell Fowler of local TSN affiliate KVNN-AM 1340, said it would be airing the debate.
Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, Democratic candidate Chris Bell, and Independent candidates Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn are scheduled to take part in the only debate of the campaign, which culminates in the election on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
A partial check of local and area county party chairs revealed no formal plans for any kind of debate watching events or even much interest in the debate at all. One party chair even asked "What debate?"
Some Kinky Friedman supporters in DeWitt County are planning a small gathering at a private home to cheer on their candidate.
Part of the reason for the apathy may lie in the scheduling, after all Friday night in Texas means high school football. And, oh yeah, there's a little football game on Saturday, too, in Dallas that some folks may begin their reveling for on Friday night ... Texas vs. Oklahoma.
"I don't know whose decision it was to have it on a Friday night," said Mary Anne Wyatt, Victoria County Republican Party chair. "It couldn't come at a worse time. It's Memorial High's homecoming; it's Texas-OU weekend."
The county's Democratic Party Chair Stephen Jabbour said there were no plans for a formal gathering to watch the debate, though he planned to watch it with friends.
"People tend to get fired up two weeks before an election, not a month before," Jabbour said. "Our candidate has a good message and his speeches are equally as important as the debate, if not more so."
A spokesperson for Jabbour's candidate's campaign blasted the debate scheduling.
"I think it is unfortunate that Rick Perry is going to such lengths to avoid letting the voters of Texas get a real good look at the candidates and compare them on the issues and leadership," said Heather Guntert of the Bell campaign." I understand his concern about standing up next to the other candidates and trying to defend his dismal record and lack of ideas for the future. The people of Texas are sick and tired of Perry, and the shell game he's playing with debates is just making them more angry. Agreeing to only one debate and having that debate fall on a historically low ratings night, and having access to the one debate so controlled shows unbelievable arrogance on the part of Rick Perry. It is a complete dismissal of the voters' right to compare and contrast the candidates."
According to the Associated Press, a Perry campaign spokesman said the governor has time for just one debate and had a scheduling conflict with an originally proposed Thursday night debate. The Thursday debate was being organized by KERA-TV, a public television station in Dallas, as it had done in 2002.
"The governor's schedule is pretty much locked in for the last 60 days of the campaign, and this is what fit our schedule best - simple as that," Perry spokesman Robert Black told the AP.
Linda Curtis, founder of Independent Texans, and Strayhorn supporter, also blasted the governor for the timing of the debate at a recent Trans Texas Corridor protest.
"The governor agreed to only one debate and made sure it was on a Friday night. Friday night football is important, but so is paving over our land," said Curtis, urging protesters to submit a question to be asked during the debate.
Other complaints about the debate have also arisen.
Harvey Kronberg of the Quorum Report said, "It's not surprising that there is only one gubernatorial debate and it is scheduled to conflict with high school football and the Friday night celebrations before the Texas-OU game. That's not unusual when the incumbent is favored to win and gets to set the rules or refuses to play."
The Quorum Report bills itself as a non-partisan newsletter, founded in 1983, focusing on Texas politics and government.
The "rules," according to the Associated Press, include not allowing competing television stations in Belo markets (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin) to show the debate live. Spanish-language and public broadcast stations may show the debate only on tape delay and only within four days of the debate. Stations outside Belo markets may air the debate live via satellite feed.
Historically, political debates for statewide office have been produced by the Texas Debates Consortium to assure access to all Texans through all media outlets.
Not this time, but it may be that no one notices.
Sonny Long is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-275-6319 or cueroadv@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.
© 2006 The Victoria Advocate: www.thevictoriaadvocate.com
Tonight's event fails to stir much interest
October 06, 2006
Sonny Long
The Victoria Advocate
Copyright 2006
If there is an opposite of "much ado about nothing" - something like "little interest in something important" - then that perfectly describes the general consensus of the amount of attention being paid locally to tonight's Texas gubernatorial debate.
The debate is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be seen only on Belo Corp.-owned television stations, including KENS Channel 5 in San Antonio and KHOU Channel 11 in Houston. It will also be carried by the Texas Cable News Network. The debate is also being made available for broadcast on Texas State Network radio stations. Russell Fowler of local TSN affiliate KVNN-AM 1340, said it would be airing the debate.
Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, Democratic candidate Chris Bell, and Independent candidates Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn are scheduled to take part in the only debate of the campaign, which culminates in the election on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
A partial check of local and area county party chairs revealed no formal plans for any kind of debate watching events or even much interest in the debate at all. One party chair even asked "What debate?"
Some Kinky Friedman supporters in DeWitt County are planning a small gathering at a private home to cheer on their candidate.
Part of the reason for the apathy may lie in the scheduling, after all Friday night in Texas means high school football. And, oh yeah, there's a little football game on Saturday, too, in Dallas that some folks may begin their reveling for on Friday night ... Texas vs. Oklahoma.
"I don't know whose decision it was to have it on a Friday night," said Mary Anne Wyatt, Victoria County Republican Party chair. "It couldn't come at a worse time. It's Memorial High's homecoming; it's Texas-OU weekend."
The county's Democratic Party Chair Stephen Jabbour said there were no plans for a formal gathering to watch the debate, though he planned to watch it with friends.
"People tend to get fired up two weeks before an election, not a month before," Jabbour said. "Our candidate has a good message and his speeches are equally as important as the debate, if not more so."
A spokesperson for Jabbour's candidate's campaign blasted the debate scheduling.
"I think it is unfortunate that Rick Perry is going to such lengths to avoid letting the voters of Texas get a real good look at the candidates and compare them on the issues and leadership," said Heather Guntert of the Bell campaign." I understand his concern about standing up next to the other candidates and trying to defend his dismal record and lack of ideas for the future. The people of Texas are sick and tired of Perry, and the shell game he's playing with debates is just making them more angry. Agreeing to only one debate and having that debate fall on a historically low ratings night, and having access to the one debate so controlled shows unbelievable arrogance on the part of Rick Perry. It is a complete dismissal of the voters' right to compare and contrast the candidates."
According to the Associated Press, a Perry campaign spokesman said the governor has time for just one debate and had a scheduling conflict with an originally proposed Thursday night debate. The Thursday debate was being organized by KERA-TV, a public television station in Dallas, as it had done in 2002.
"The governor's schedule is pretty much locked in for the last 60 days of the campaign, and this is what fit our schedule best - simple as that," Perry spokesman Robert Black told the AP.
Linda Curtis, founder of Independent Texans, and Strayhorn supporter, also blasted the governor for the timing of the debate at a recent Trans Texas Corridor protest.
"The governor agreed to only one debate and made sure it was on a Friday night. Friday night football is important, but so is paving over our land," said Curtis, urging protesters to submit a question to be asked during the debate.
Other complaints about the debate have also arisen.
Harvey Kronberg of the Quorum Report said, "It's not surprising that there is only one gubernatorial debate and it is scheduled to conflict with high school football and the Friday night celebrations before the Texas-OU game. That's not unusual when the incumbent is favored to win and gets to set the rules or refuses to play."
The Quorum Report bills itself as a non-partisan newsletter, founded in 1983, focusing on Texas politics and government.
The "rules," according to the Associated Press, include not allowing competing television stations in Belo markets (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin) to show the debate live. Spanish-language and public broadcast stations may show the debate only on tape delay and only within four days of the debate. Stations outside Belo markets may air the debate live via satellite feed.
Historically, political debates for statewide office have been produced by the Texas Debates Consortium to assure access to all Texans through all media outlets.
Not this time, but it may be that no one notices.
Sonny Long is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-275-6319 or cueroadv@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.
© 2006 The Victoria Advocate:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Friday, October 06, 2006
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