OPINION:
A recent Washington Times editorial called Democrats cowards for ducking debates (“Cowardly Democrats duck candidate debates,” Web, Oct. 15). It named Sen. Mark Warner in Virginia, David Jolly in Florida, Gov. Katie Hobbs in Arizona and a slate of Minnesota Democrats.
On several counts, the paper is right. Mr. Warner’s busy-schedule excuse expired when the Senate adjourned on Oct. 3.
Here in Ohio, Amy Acton has declined to debate Vivek Ramaswamy. She should reconsider. I want to hear her defend her plans with her opponent standing 10feet away.
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But the editorial tells only half the story. Ducking debates isn’t a Democratic habit. It’s a frontrunner’s habit and plenty of Republicans have it.
In Texas, James Talarico accepted debate invitations from CNN, Hearst, Nexstar and WFAA. He offered to meet Ken Paxton on Fox News. Mr. Paxton hasn’t accepted a single one of these invitations. He never debated in his three races for attorney general.
Even President Trump now says that Mr. Paxton should take the stage.
I have family in Tennessee. There, Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn told a Chattanooga TV station in September that she would not debate Democrat Jerri Green, calling Ms. Green a socialist.
Ms. Blackburn has not been in a public debate since 2018. The Tennessee Press Association set a forum for Oct. 27 at Middle Tennessee State. Ms. Green said yes; Ms. Blackburn has not answered.
In Alabama, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville passed on debating Doug Jones in the race for governor.
Candidates who skip debates say that the format rewards sound bites over substance. Ms. Hobbs’ campaign made exactly that case and there is something to it. Debates can be shallow.
But they also put both candidates under the same lights, facing the same question, with no time to rehearse follow-up. It is the one hour of a campaign that nobody can fully script.
I spent my career getting newspapers out the door. Those newsrooms are thinner now, and fewer reporters are left to press candidates.
That makes the debate stage more valuable, not less.
The Times is right to demand debates, but it should demand them of everyone.
RAY WATFORD
Hilliard Ohio
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