Initially, Hutchison campaign spokesman Jeff Sadosky wouldn't commit to the debates but said Hutchison "looks forward to debating the issues with Rick Perry and plans to do so repeatedly over the next seven months."
But hours later, Sadosky confirmed the campaign's acceptance of the invitation from Belo.
"We're there," Sadosky said, adding that the campaign had not seen the Collin County GOP's invitation.
But more to the point, it appears Perry’s team thinks Hutchison is not a good public speaker and even gets rattled when she shares a stage with the governor. As Perry media consultant David Weeks once famously said to Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka, “The camera loves the guy.” The Perry team also senses that it can continue to score points by comparing the state government to the federal one.
His willingness to debate also shows, however, that the Perry campaign expects Hutchison’s momentum to pick back up after a disappointing summer in which she largely left the field of play. Team Perry does not feel that it’s in any position to sit on a lead this time, at least not yet.
Just a side note here: Revisiting the 2006 debate brought back some great memories Tuesday, particularly as I read through this compilation of blogs that I posted during the debate itself. I had completely forgotten that, when asked to name a high-ranking African-American in his campaign, the best Kinky Friedman could come up with was “my friend Frank” from Atlanta.
I am not sure I ever actually saw that debate back in 2006, but the "my friend Frank" comment is sort of funny. I wonder if Kinky will have any chance to get the Dem nomination this time around? I think Kinky's precarious lead in some of the early polls is probably based only on name identification.
From a purely selfish standpoint I am looking forward to several debates... I promise to live blog them and all of that good stuff...
From a strategic point of view I think Rick actually has more to gain in the debates than Kay, although I think she is quick on her feet and is a solid debater. Rick just is more of a known quantity, and a lot of his controversial things have already been hashed and rehashed, and Kay probably has hundreds of bad votes just like every senator does...
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Hey now, campaign characters. Be nice. I know a lot of you on both sides, so I don't want any overly foul language, personal attacks on anyone other than the candidates themselves, or other party fouls. I will moderate the heck out of you if you start breaking the bounds of civility.