On August 23, Bill Redpath, Libertarian Party nominee for U.S. House, Virginia’s 10th district, debated his Democratic Party opponent, Jeff Barnett. See this story. The third candidate in the race, incumbent Republican Frank Wolf, did not participate. Thanks to Melinda Moore for the link. Redpath is somewhat well known nationally because he was the chair of the Libertarian National Committee 2006-2010.
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Just my luck an oil pipeline will rupture all over my gold mine.
& after I win in AC, I’ll go to the Yukon.
When I get my too little too late inheritance I’m not going to invest it in my campaign. To hell with that frustration & heartache.
I’ll go to AC & gamble & hire some high class hookers-I mean escorts. You know, the kind only oil rich millionaires can have every day.
& I was talking about cold turkey oil cutoff. What a fool!
Yes, listen to paulie & Tom K as they lol & berate PLAS.
But I will get the last laugh on election eve as all the Libertarian candidates who could have won, lose one by one.
Yes, pulie, thank Tom Seeman no link. His crystal ball told him Wolf’s internal polling too.
& of course the general rules about debates which libertarians follow in goose step, have led them to countless glorious victories….oops.
Nevermind.
Thanks Tom and JT for pointing out the obvious yet again about debates. Personally I did not have the patience to debate 1+1=2 further after pointing it out once.
Somewhat well known is just what it says. It does not mean Redpath is well known with the general public, just that he is better known than most LP candidates.
As for whether he will be well known at some point in the future, I don’t have a crystal ball. Where did you get yours and how much do they run?
JT has it right. One of the basic rules of politics is that you don’t debate if you’re far ahead in the polls. Wolf’s internals surely, then, show him to be well ahead. The reason you don’t debate a non-threat is that 1) you give him name recognition and stature, and 2) you risk making a mistake that can cost you.
I attended the Barnett town hall at the Ashburn library. Barnett spent much of his time complaining that Wolf wouldn’t debate him as many times as he wanted, which was ironic because as the evening went on it became painfully clear that Wolf would wipe the floor with him in any debate. More debates, then, are the last thing Barnett should wish for.
As for Redpath being “somewhat well known nationally,” that may be true for political junkies but he is and always will be an unknown irrelevancy to the general public.
ALWAYS? The incumbent has many advantages. Saying he is too busy doing the peoples’ business to debate then compensating with negative last minute ads for example.
Getting trounced if you show up v getting trounced by a different amount is also a cost/benefit analysis.
ATBAFT, good suggestion.
However, either way a reactionary is going to win this seat.
Milnes: “If the incumbent was in any danger the incumbent would want to be there.
Not necessarily.”
Yes, necessarily. The incumbent ALWAYS debates if he feels he might lose by not showing up. If he feels he can only lose by being trounced in a debate, he doesn’t show up. Simple cost/benefit analysis.
I hope they had a third chair with a stuffed toy chicken sitting in it. That’s the kind of thing that produces an embarrassing photo in the newspaper.
paulie’s illogic again.
To ask the rhetorical question,”Who cares?” means the person asking does not care. Not necessarily/Quite the contrary.
If the incumbent was in any danger the incumbent would want to be there.
Not necessarily.
He assumes both candidates know they are going to lose & therefore do not debate that.
Whereas the real reason might be something else. Like they can’t perpetuate the myth of the legitimacy of these debates & elections or that they are going to win, if they come out & say they are losing & are going to lose. Or they are in denial about losing. (the lib)
etc.
If you don’t care, don’t comment.
Who cares?
Both. Duh.
If the incumbent was in any danger, the incumbent would want to be there.
They didn’t debate which one would win & which would lose, I take it.