Tammy Baldwin joins the list of candidates who have declined more than one debate

One thing was clear throughout the U.S. Senator. Tammy Baldwin's over three decades in public office.

Baldwin wasn't a particularly good debater.

However, this did not stop her from holding three debates against the former governor. Tommy Thompson in her first run for the U.S. Senate and three more in 2018, when she ran against and defeated the state senator. Leah Vukmir.

More: The first and only debate in the Wisconsin Senate takes place tonight. Here's how to watch.

But this year the public will only have one chance to see Baldwin, a Democrat, face his Republican challenger Eric Hovde. In recent polls, the two are only separated by a percentage point or two.

This debate, which will take place on Friday evening, will be moderated by the bipartisans Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and hosted at WMTV-TV (Channel 15) in Madison. It airs on stations throughout Wisconsin and beyond C-SPAN And WisconsinEye.

Hovde, a real estate and banking mogul from Madison, has repeatedly tried to get Baldwin to agree to further debates.

In a recent interview, Baldwin said she supports the WBA debate because it has nationwide reach.

“This is going to be nationally televised, right?” Baldwin recounted Journal Sentinel. “So that everyone, no matter where you are, gets the chance to see it.”

When asked why she wasn't doing other debates, Baldwin reiterated that she wanted to have a debate that all Wisconsin voters had access to.

“I want everyone to have the opportunity to watch the debate, and I’m really looking forward to it and preparing for it,” Baldwin said. “It will be available nationwide.”

But as it turned out, there was another way for the pair of politicians to hold a second national debate.

Earlier this year WISN-TV (Channel 12) invited Hovde and Baldwin to a debate before the November 5 general election.

Matt SinnNews director of the Milwaukee station said WISN has offered to air its debate on its ABC affiliates in Wausau, La Crosse, Madison and Green Bay in addition to Milwaukee. The debate could also have been streamed online from anywhere in Wisconsin.

More: Republicans are focusing on transgender messaging as a line of attack in the Wisconsin election campaign

Sinn said this is how the station broadcasts its political news program “Upfront” across the state. “It would have been broadcast nationally,” Sinn said Wednesday.

Hovde quickly accepted the offer. Baldwin refused.

But Sinn said the debate could still take place in the next two and a half weeks.

“The invitation remains,” he said.

Hovde said at a public event earlier this week that he was on board.

“I would debate Senator Baldwin anytime, anywhere,” said Hovde, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2012. “That is beyond question. I said that from the beginning. That’s what the campaign is about.” should be approximate.

Andrew Mamoa spokesman for Baldwin, all but rejected the idea.

“Tammy is looking forward to debating her opponent at the WBA debate,” Mamo said.

Message delivered: This debate season will be a once-in-a-lifetime one.

The problem with just one debate in the Wisconsin Senate race is many. Firstly, it takes place on a Friday evening when a lot of people are busy.

More importantly, the WBA event not only features one or two people asking questions, but also provides frequent opportunities for candidates to engage in conversation with one another. Instead, a group of five journalists will interview the candidates in the hour-long debate.

In the past, the WBA debates seemed more like a joint press conference than a meaningful exchange of ideas.

In fact, Baldwin isn't the only one to avoid the debates this year.

In the crucial race for the US Senate in Texas, the Republican Senator. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred could only agree on a debate. In Wisconsin's hotly contested contest for western Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District between Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden and Democratic challenger Rebecca CookeNot once have they made an agreement to meet in person.

And of course the former president Donald Trump has declined to give an encore to last month's high-profile debate with the vice president Kamala Harris.

That's interesting, considering that this presidential election represented perhaps one of the most important debates in presidential history Joe Biden He withdrew from his re-election campaign after a disastrous performance on the debate stage with Trump in late June.

Maybe that's why people are avoiding these TV events this year. A single debate can mean the end of a political career.

In his interview with the Journal Sentinel, Hovde suggested that his opponent avoided the media in the final weeks of the campaign, although he appeared on numerous local and national television and radio shows and gave interviews to the press.

His campaign said Hovde was interviewed Fox News Shows like “The Ingraham Angle” and “The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino,” podcasts with conservatives Marc Levin and Dan Bongino, and mainstream media outlets, including BloombergTV“Lake effect”. WUWM-FM (89.7) and “In advance.”

“What can she run with?” Hovde said of Baldwin. “She has nothing to fall back on. So I will continue to talk about issues and she will continue to pursue politics of personal destruction.”

But Mamo disputed the notion that Baldwin, who is running for a third term, was pursuing a so-called “Rose Garden strategy,” citing numerous recent media and public appearances by the Madison Democrat.

Baldwin recently appeared on “Good Morning America,” “The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell” and “Inside with Jen Psaki,” among others MSNBC; And Anderson Cooper's show on CNN. She has also conducted interviews with The Economisthas appeared on numerous radio and television shows in Wisconsin and will soon appear on “Upfront” on WISN.

“In October, Tammy will be doing more than 90 events and dozens of interviews across the state while Eric Hovde sits in his office, calling in right-wing radio shows,” Mamo said. “She will continue to go everywhere leading up to Election Day, including meeting with WISN for a one-on-one interview next week and visiting precincts that Eric Hovde has only seen on a map.”

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

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