Debates in NY-29
Rotten has an interesting post up about the debates Massa has proposed in NY-29. First, he points to an article in the Messenger-Post which says that the “ball is in Kuhl’s court” as far as accepting some kind of debate schedule.  The reasons for Massa wanting to debate Kuhl are clear: Massa is a better debater and is generally considered to have “won” last the debates of 2006.
Rotten points out, though, that given Kuhl’s lack of money, he should consider debates as a way to get his message out:
What I don’t understand is how Kuhl’s impoverished campaign is going to get its message out. Part of the reason Kuhl won in 2006 was a last-minute blitz of TV ads in the Rochester market.  It doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to afford that this year. Direct mail is also expensive. And even the Internet costs money — Randy doesn’t even have his campaign website up yet.
Unlike expensive for-pay media, debates only cost the gas money, and they’re usually well-covered by the press.
It’s a smart point, but I still think Kuhl would be wise to debate as little as possible. The entire debate format works to Democrats’ advantages, since Democrats generally consider policy mastery to very important, while Republicans don’t. By contrast, I believe that the advertising medium works to Republicans’ advantage since Republicans are generally more comfortable sticking to soundbites and pictures. Given the fundraising woes of Congressional Republicans, however, they might not have the option of fighting an ad war. This situation bears watching.
Still doesn’t detract from the fact the the reasons Kuhl is giving for not debating are lame at best.
As discussed here.
His attitude is changing with his new position as “senior” congressman now that Walsh and Reynolds bowed out. I think you’ll see a “new attitude” coming out of Kuhldom. If nothing more, it will be entertaining!
That doesn’t change the fact that he’s a poor debater.
Last week the Kuhl campaign conducted a poll. They met with a firm in VA who formulated the questions and the perameters. To save cost (since the Kuhl campaign needs every cent it can get), they asked volunteers to make the phone calls. When the results came back, the campaign was disappointed resulting in campaign volunteers being asked not to help out any longer.