Keller @ Large: Brown, Warren Need To Have The Final Debate
BOSTON (CBS) - When Senator Scott Brown on Monday called for Tuesday night's final TV debate with challenger Elizabeth Warren to be postponed due to fallout from the hurricane it made sense.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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Tens of thousands of homes were still without power, leaving the voters within unable to watch. It felt like the right idea to reschedule and the Warren campaign quickly agreed.
But it doesn't feel right to hear that the debate has been cancelled altogether due to inflexibility in Senator Brown's schedule. I couldn't get a call back from the Brown campaign to explain their reasoning, but a spokesman told the Herald that the candidate is committed to a statewide bus tour starting Thursday that "simply cannot accommodate a rescheduling of this fourth debate and the planning and preparation that would go into it."
Well, that's hard to believe, especially when the Brown people point out, correctly, that Warren previously ducked out of a radio debate she had agreed to, making it sound like this is some kind of payback. Insultingly silly, if true.
The huge ratings racked up by earlier debates speak to the high level of interest in this race and undecided voters look to debates as an unvarnished chance to size up the candidates.
It's been three weeks since Brown and Warren last met and many relevant topics remain un-discussed, including fresh developments in the Benghazi fiasco and even the merits of FEMA.
I don't care if Brown is ten up or ten down in the polls, there's no better use of his time this final week than participating in one more debate.
Same goes for Warren, who has no good excuse for blowing off that radio debate.
Reminder to politicians - even U.S. Senators - you work for us.
Really.
And your campaign for office is a prolonged job interview in which debates are a crucial element.
So, let's have that Brown bus stop and pick up Warren and bring her over to Channel 2, where they can both do their civic and professional duty.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
