Apr 7
Should there be a Primary Debate in VA-11?
Here in VA-11, apparently, there is no open, public debate for the candidates before the Primary. I guess that is par for the course, because, well… it is a primary, and outside the 20-something Presidential debates, it seems a bit… shall we say, much.
 But with 4 people in the field (Alexander, Byrne, Connolly, and Denneny) and lots of things flying around, I think a debate would be good for the candidates. Something aired here locally that would help the people of VA-11 see the candidates first hand. We can finally get beyond the blogs and beyond the press releases, fundraisers, and the like, and actually get them to answer some questions. Â
Last Thursday, the Denneny Campaingn made a press release “accepting to appear at a debate” happening at GMU. This was followed by an article  on Friday by Bryan Scrafford (link) blasting the campaign for creating a debate and forcing Fairfax County organizations (specifically the Fairfax County Young Democrats) into the controversy. Arguing, and emails flew, and on Monday, not much has changed. People are pissed at the Denneny campaign for the “stunt,” and they think he is running a dirty campaign for trying to pull it off.
 But the Denneny “stunt” does bring a valid question to the table (and this may be their overall goal): Why aren’t there any debates? Should we have any?
My thoughts are this: There NEEDS to be a debate with all four candidates. Maybe not the GMU on April 14th, but perhaps any day between April 24 and June 5. There is plenty of time for an organized debate between these four candidates. In a perfect world, there should be two of them, One in Fairfax, and one in Prince William. but perhaps one would suffice. It could be done, and with the support of the campaigns, and lets get some face time with these candidates!
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Nobody is against having a debate.
People are against having a campaign blatantly lie in press releases, lie when confronted with evidence that the press release was wrong, potentially harm Democratic organizations by dragging them into the controversy, and try to smear grassroots activists who call them out on their lies.
“Nobody is against having a debate.”
That is good, because I think that if there is going to be a legitimate debate in VA-11, then it needs to be set up sooner rather than later. One of the arguments is that the April 14 debate is too soon to be credible… so I would say we need to talk (and schedule) any proposed debates soon, and get all four candidates signed on.
In terms of the Denneny Campaign harming Democratic Organizations and such… I see you point, and personally, I am kinda thrown at the “stunt” that was thrown. Was it jumping the gun a bit before things were ready? Was it a sneaky maneuver to score points with… who again? I don’t think his campaign is as evil as other bloggers are making them out to be.
I am also not sure what the status of the April 14th debate is at this point. No one seems to have mentioned anything about that. Is it happening? Is it going to just be a Denneny showcase? are the FCYD ending it all together to avoid any other issues?
Thank you for commenting!
The FCYD never was sponsoring the debate. As was pointed out in the article you linked to, that turned out to be a complete fabrication by the Denneny campaign. The campaign made up the debate so that they could make Gerry and Leslie look as though they were against the Democratic process.
The only chance Doug has of winning is by picking up the votes from people who don’t like Gerry or Leslie. By making them look like they hate the Democratic process Doug’s team was hoping to pick up some of the voters that were already hesitant about the other candidates. The only problem is that his campaign was at the very least misleading which is exactly opposite of the message they need to promote if there’s any chance of Doug winning.
The chair of the 11th Congression District Democratic Committee has stated over at Raising Kaine that there were debates being planned. It looks like the Denneny campaign lied yet again by trying to imply there weren’t going to be any debates. Doug Denneny needs to either publicly admit his campaign lied and address why they did it, or withdraw from the race.
I saw the Raising Kaine comment (and it makes me happy).
I’ll be writing a followup.