Cramer Does Gulleson A Favor And Agrees To A Half-Dozen Debates

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Written By:
Rob Port

Jul 20, 2012
9:50am

A few political observers I’ve spoken to have said that Republican House candidate Kevin Cramer’s best move as we enter the stretch to election day may be to disappear from the campaign trail. According to them, it’s Cramer’s race to lose at this point.

I’m not sure I’m willing to go that far, but it’s certain that Gulleson has been underperforming in her race so far. She’s raised a lot of money, and she’s spent a lot of money, but she doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of traction for it. And she’s running a bloated campaign (perhaps fitting for someone who wants to bloat government), already spending over $52,000 through June 30th on staff and administration according to FEC numbers.

So when Cramer agreed to six debates with Gulleson, he did her a real favor. And Cramer, unintentionally, made the Berg campaign’s stonewalling on debates look even sillier by comparison.

Of course, I doubt many voters will watch these debates, and stipulation usually imposed on these sort of events is that none of the footage can be used in campaign ads. So if one or the other candidates bombs, chances are the public won’t see that either (unless some enterprising blogger puts it on YouTube, ahem). And at a half-dozen debates, they’ll become repetitive and tiresome by the end.

Still, though, the expectation is that candidates engage one another, and that’s not such a bad thing.