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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Politics / Media A Few Theories on John Koster's Debate-Ducking

Posted by Eli Sanders on Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 11:57 AM

Won't debate

Bailing out of a debate is not unheard of in politics (hey there, John McCain).

But it is weird in this context: John Koster, the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington's 2nd District (Everett, Bellingham, and the San Juan Islands), is refusing to have a live televised debate—the only lived televised debate scheduled close to the balloting in this contest—because he doesn't like one of the proposed debate panelists, a reporter who works for a newspaper that endorsed him.

Again: Weird.

So weird it requires a theory—especially since Koster isn't explaining himself. I have a few:

1) There's some amazing beef between Koster and Everett Herald reporter Jerry Cornfield that no one knows about (including Cornfield's own editors).

2) Koster is, as the campaign of incumbent Democratic congressman Rick Larsen says, "trying to hide his extreme views from the voters of Northwest Washington." This may sound like a gratuitous attack, but in fact Koster does have some pretty extreme views. For example, he opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest and wants to do away with the Department of Education. He also comes off as kind of angry on television. Maybe Koster and his campaign think it's better to keep the anger and the extreme views off the air in the closing weeks of the campaign.

3) Koster knows something no on else does. He knows, either from internal polling or some sort of psychic connection to the voters of the 2nd District, that the Republican wave is huge this year, and all he needs to do is shut up and ride it. After all, he won the primary, relegating Larsen, a five-term incumbent, to second place—and that was before any televised debates. Maybe his internal polling and/or psychic connection tells him he can have a repeat of that performance if he just stays off the air.

My bet? A combination of theories 2 and 3.

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Comments (10) RSS

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4. He's a space alien.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on October 20, 2010 at 12:05 PM

if koster's to chickensh8t to face his constituency, what makes you think he'll be able to handle debate at the congressional level?

the guy's a lunatic. a nut job. and apparently a bonafide pussy.

Posted by holz on October 20, 2010 at 12:11 PM

Hey, lets do an initiative that says as a condition of running you MUST appear in at least two broadcast debates to appear on the ballot. Who could object to that?

Posted by Joe Szilagyi

on October 20, 2010 at 12:12 PM

#3 ftw

Posted by Bhamjason on October 20, 2010 at 12:14 PM

@4 hey neat! Usually Tiktok or someone else leaps down my throat when I make any civics suggestions. I guess I was less off the wall for once.

Posted by Joe Szilagyi

on October 20, 2010 at 12:20 PM

@2: there's debate at the national level? i never see it - anyone can bloviate, it's just reading. and that's what the US congress does. it's not british parliament.

Posted by Max Solomon on October 20, 2010 at 1:52 PM

Sad to say, but a three-toed sloth could win an election against a sitting Democrat.

Posted by Free Lunch on October 20, 2010 at 7:49 PM

The Everett Herald endorsed Koster but he has a problem with the paper? Jerry Cornfield has been fawning all over Rossi so he can't be the problem.

#2 is more likely. Koster's campaign manager is Larry Stickney. Those on Slog should remember him. He's the guy who tried to overturn the state's domestic partnership law via referendum. The 2nd district voted to uphold the law.

Posted by Spicy McHaggis on October 20, 2010 at 8:37 PM

I don't even want to think about the consequences of what will happen if koster wins over Larsen.

I haven't seen any actual tv ads by koster just the usual ones (paid for by the whatever out of state foundation) that slam Rick Larsen over false information like how he made the 13 trillion dollar debt all by himself.

Posted by Simone on October 20, 2010 at 11:33 PM

He is an idiot. They (Pick a group) are slowly figuring out that they can win elections without talking, they just have to tweet stupid bullshit. The more they talk the more they are wrong (look at Christine O) and nobody (but the people who don't like them to begin with) cares at all if they are wrong.

Just don't say anything really dumb like "That's in the 1st amendment?". I hate this place.

Posted by Fenrox on October 21, 2010 at 2:34 PM