(The following was originally published in PressCloud.)
Sioux Falls, SD (GistCloud) June 17, 2014 – Former Senator Larry Pressler today accepted a debate offer from South Dakota Public Broadcasting on Thursday, October 23 at 8pm. Pressler praised the debate organizers, which are South Dakota Public Broadcasting, AARP, and SDNA. The letter of invitation states that “if more than two candidates decline, the debate will not be held.” In other words, the organizers of this debate are saying that one person cannot veto the whole debate.
“Having participated in nine radio and TV debates in my ’96 campaign, I have a reputation for never ‘ducking a debate.’ But the media should be in charge of debates, and I urge South Dakota radio and television stations to get early invitations out to all the candidates, set the date for the candidates, and if at least two candidates agree to the debate, the debate is held. Thus no candidate has a veto power over whether a debate is held or not, and the public will benefit from the discussion of issues by the two or more candidates who do show up. It is my judgment that if a debate is scheduled and gets two candidates to agree to be in it, the candidate vetoer will show up, and if he doesn’t, that is perfectly fine. The public can see that he was invited,” Pressler said.