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In Tester-Rehberg Race, a Debate Scheduling ‘Fracas’

By Beacon Staff

In Montana’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Jon Tester and Republican challenger Denny Rehberg, each campaign has put forth its own fall debate schedule while accusing the other of avoiding debates.

As of last week, Tester and Rehberg were set to debate twice in Billings on Oct. 8 and Bozeman on Oct. 20, while many more proposed fall dates remain unsettled. Libertarian Dan Cox is expected to be on the debate tickets as well.

On July 13, Rehberg’s campaign sent out an email declaring: “Rehberg Challenges Liberal Tester to Seven Debates.” Describing a “robust debate schedule throughout Montana,” the email listed the locations, dates and sponsors of seven debates beginning Sept. 8 and ending Oct. 20.

Four days later, Tester’s campaign released an email with the headline: “Rehberg Agrees to Only Two Fall Debates.” The release attacked Rehberg for “dodging” a June 24 debate in Whitefish. Tester’s campaign said in early June it challenged Rehberg to six debates, with the locations, dates and sponsors named.

Rehberg’s campaign says the claim that it has only agreed to two debates is untrue, pointing to its own seven-debate schedule proposal.

“Not only do we want more than two debates, we want at least seven and we’re willing to do a lot more,” Chris Bond, spokesperson for Rehberg’s campaign, said.

“We’ve offered a strong series of debates,” he added. “Our offer is on the table and we’re hoping that they will strongly consider it.”

Tester’s campaign says its proposed six-debate schedule is the best option but is open for discussion. The two campaigns haven’t yet spoken with each other to coordinate debate dates.

“We believe we’ve put forward a robust debate schedule for the fall,” Aaron Murphy, spokesperson for Tester’s campaign, said.

David Parker, a political scientist at Montana State University, said he’s not entirely surprised by the “scheduling fracas,” considering the name recognition of each candidate and the tightness of the race.

Typically, a lesser-known candidate has more to gain from debating while an established candidate has more to lose, Parker said. As an example, he pointed to the 2006 Senate race where Tester was challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Conrad Burns. In that case, Parker said Tester had more to gain.

“What’s different here is that you have two candidates who are very well known,” Parker, who is writing a book on the Tester-Rehberg race, said. “In some ways you have two candidates who are both incumbents.”

“The question here is, ‘Who has more to gain or lose?’” he added. “I don’t know. I think they’re both leery of scheduling lots of debates. You open yourself up to more mistakes.”

While both campaigns maintain their eagerness to participate in numerous debates, Parker said he only expects three or four debates to actually occur. With polls showing a neck-and-neck race, he said each campaign is trying to gain an upper hand, whether it’s through projecting a message that the opponent is afraid to debate or ensuring the details of the debates – locations, dates, format, moderators – are favorable.

“This is such a tight, tight race, to be honest with you each candidate is looking for every advantage they can get even if it’s really small,” he said.

Tester, Rehberg and Cox debated once on June 16 at the Montana Newspaper Association’s convention in Big Sky. They were expected to debate again on June 24 in Whitefish, but Rehberg announced he couldn’t attend because he had never been formally invited and his schedule was already booked for that day, hence the “dodging” accusations from Tester’s campaign.

Preston Elliott, Tester’s campaign manager, said in a statement Rehberg “is afraid to debate” Tester. But at a recent town hall meeting in Whitefish, Rehberg reiterated his reason for not attending the Whitefish debate and suggested Tester was the one avoiding debates in eastern Montana and Kalispell.