WORT News - Nathan's weekly dig

...especially from the Magnum camp, if I may say so.

And here's why. First, Magnum's camp sends this press release out today announcing that Baldwin has agreed to do seven debates with Magnum, but he wants more.

http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/Aug06/Aug9/0809magnumsource.pdf

Then Baldwin's folks send out a rebuttal, saying that no, they did not agree to any debates yet and encouraging journalists to check their sources (and not use Magnum folks as reliable sources).

http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/Aug06/Aug9/0809baldwindebates.pdf

Then the Magnum folks send out the following. I'm going to paste the text because it's so rich:

--- QUOTE ---

DEBATE SOURCE: Baldwin's Campaign Manager
Baldwin ought to check in with her campaign manager on debate issue

(Madison, WI) Tammy Baldwin's campaign today issued a statement in which she denies her campaign has raised the issue of debates between herself and challenger Dave Magnum.

"Tammy Baldwin ducks and dodges debates while voting to give herself a pay increase and being ranked as one of the least effective members in Congress," Magnum said. "What is Tammy Baldwin afraid of? She won't discuss her record of inaction with voters, and apparently she's not talking to own campaign manager either."

Below is the content of an e-mail exchange between Baldwin’s campaign manager, Jeff Pertl, and a 2nd Congressional District constituent on August 2, 2006, in which he clearly states that the Baldwin campaign will agree to a minimum of six or seven debates.

Jeff Pertl wrote:

Tammy is working in D.C. right now, but wanted me to get back to you right away. As you know, Tammy is a strong advocate for democracy and participation in the political process. As such, every election cycle she participates in at least six or seven debates. The debates usually include several locations throughout the district, at least one televised appearance, and a foreign policy debate.

Unfortunately, due her Congressional obligations, Tammy cannot attend all the events and debates she is invited to participate in, but she attends as many as possible. Please let me know, if there is a particular event you are interested in having Tammy attend or a particular issue you would like her to address.

Thank you for your interest,
Jeff

Jeff Pertl
Campaign Manager
Tammy Baldwin For Congress
phone: (608) 442-5868
cell: (608) 513-7140
jeffpertl@tammybaldwin.com


Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 12:06 PM
To: campaign
Subject: Debates

Dear Tammy,

I'm rather curious. How come you continually decline to debate Dave Magnum. Is he right? Have you something to hide? Maybe he's right. Maybe you have been lying to us. Maybe I should vote for him instead.

--- END QUOTE ---

Now, I'm not going to get into Magnum's politics here, though I have plenty of personal opinions about 'em. But here's what I have to say about this whole interaction...

What the hell is the matter the folks over at the Magnum campaign? Baldwin's campaign manager simply wrote in the email that past practice has been to do six or seven per election cycle. This snippy back and forth, reading between the lines business is ridiculous.

In the news business, I get a lot of potential guests who say, "Sure, I've done some talk shows at WORT before." But I always need a confirmation, typically in the form of, "I'd like to do this interview, the following dates work for me." And until I get that confirmation, I don't go around announcing that so-and-so is booked for a show. Same should go for your scheduling of debates.

I'm glad Chris Lato included the text of Jeff Pertl's email in the latest press release. It shows he's being pretty asinine, and as a news gatherer, it makes me wonder where the heck he's coming from. And as a voter, believe it or not, this does NOT make Magnum look all that good.

And until debates are actually scheduled, I would prefer to be spared this bullshit repartee.

# posted by WORTNews @ 4:10 PM