U.S. Senate candidates Larry LaRocco, a Democrat, and Rex Rammell, an independent, will meet in the first of 10 planned debates tonight (Monday, August 18). The live event is at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time in the Riverstone Room at the Hampton Inn & Suites, 1500 Riverstone Drive in Coeur d'Alene, but people statewide can catch the event live on LaRocco's website starting at 7:30 p.m. Mountain/6:30 Pacific. Questions for the debaters are also being taken in advance of the event here.
This is an interesting gambit for LaRocco, whose poll numbers are rising, and for Rammell, who is one of the stronger third-party candidates Idaho has seen. There will be sharp differences between them on most issues, and both are likely to win more support from independents and undecided voters than will Jim Risch, who will dodge these debates (and the Idaho Public TV-Idaho Press Club-League of Women Voters event this fall). If LaRocco and Rammell can keep Risch's support well under 50 percent, LaRocco will have a chance to prevail in the election on November 4.
Update 5:50 p.m. We'll have the live stream and chat capability here at RSR as well.
Update Tuesday morning: The recorded video of the debate is available here.
I went to Risch's website and he's removed the events calendar. I'm assuming he doesn't want us to track his whereabouts so he can be filmed. I also assume he doesn't want it well known that he didn't have anything better to do tonight than duck the issues.
Posted by: Sisyphus | August 18, 2008 at 04:10 PM
Hmmmm ... very interesting, Sisyphus. The bunker campaign continues.
By the way, I was pretty bummed to see Risch - and not Butch Otter - present Kristin Armstrong with the state proclamation of Kristin Armstrong Day at the Boise rally last Saturday morning. I guess it should have been no surprise, though, that Otter would give Risch such a high-profile, low-risk platform.
Posted by: Julie in Boise | August 18, 2008 at 04:40 PM