Senate candidates disagree on debates

Pearce wants debates now; Udall says after Labor Day is fine

Tom Udall and Steve Pearce, running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Pete Domenici, disagree on the number of debates that should be held -- and when -- ahead of the Nov. 4 general election.

Udall, a Democrat, says three debates are enough for voters, while Pearce, a Republican, wants more. KOB's Stuart Dyson has more:

Democrat Tom Udall wants to debate this fall, but Republican Steve Pearce says he wants to go at it right now.

Udall has already agreed to three television debates after Labor Day. Pearce has agreed, but he also wants to debate about energy before the summer ends.

Pearce is well behind in the polls and in fund-raising and would love to get the free media attention that a debate would breed. Udall, the clear front-runner, would like to keep the public from seeing a general-election Pearce for as long as possible.

Pearce's campaign manager, John Billingsley, wrote in a letter to his counterpart at the Udall campaign, Amanda Cooper, that he wanted at least three debates after Udall challenged Pearce to a trio of debates after Labor Day.

It's reminiscent of the 2006 gubernatorial election, in which Bill Richardson went the entire campaign without debating his Republican opponent, former New Mexico Republican head John Dendahl. In that election, however, Richardson was a powerful incumbent with a high approval rating and an outmatched opponent.

For Udall, things are different; his opponent is a multiterm congressman from southern New Mexico who won a contested primary against a difficult and politically savvy opponent, Heather Wilson, in the Republican primary. Dendahl was little more than a sacrificial lamb for Richardson despite his time as the head of the New Mexico Republican party.

A potential debate at the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau conference on July 26 was nixed when the news came down that Udall and Pearce would not be on stage together. This caused New Mexico blogger Joe Monahan to call the event, "officially a bust" after expressing concern that there would be no summer debates between the two.

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'08 Election, Blog, Politics