Sen. Collins agrees to debate Pingree Oct. 19 is first of 7 planned appearances

WASHINGTON – Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has agreed to debate her Democratic challenger, Chellie Pingree, on Oct. 19 on Maine public television.

The event is planned be the first of seven debate appearances around the state, which will be hosted by other broadcast media and local chambers of commerce, according to Collins campaign manager Steve Abbott.

Last week, the Pingree campaign criticized Collins for not accepting any of the dozens of debates proposed by Maine media organizations and community groups, including the Maine Council of Senior Citizens, Consumers for Affordable Health Care, Women in Public Life Forum, Maine Public Radio and WERU-FM in Bangor.

Unlike many other Senate incumbents around the country who have already participated in debates for re-election and confirmed future dates, the Collins campaign has been reluctant to nail down campaign appearances with Pingree because of an uncertain Senate schedule, according to Abbott.

“Our basic problem is she [Collins] hasn’t missed a vote,” he said, “and we’re not going to skip one for a debate.”

The targeted date for the Senate to adjourn is Oct. 4, according to the office of Senate Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Adjournment may be later than that, however, because of pressing business on spending bills and a possible vote on U.S. military intervention in Iraq.

Abbott said that the Collins campaign decided against a number of invitations prior to Oct. 19 because they were offered on weekdays when Congress clearly would be in session. Other offers from community groups were rejected because Abbott believes the sponsoring organizations are affiliated with unions. “They are AFL groups,” he said.

The AFL-CIO has sponsored a number of broadcast commercials that are critical of Collins.

Reluctance by an incumbent to schedule debates with a challenger is often a decision designed to avoid unnecessary risks, noted campaign expert Ron Faucheux, editor-in-chief of the Washington-based Campaigns and Elections magazine.

“A front-running incumbent wouldn’t want a debate to come too early in a campaign because an opponent may get time to build on any success,” Faucheux said, adding that he was not commenting on specifics of the Collins-Pingree race. “Having later dates makes it difficult for an opponent to pull off that strategy.”

Last week, Pingree publicly challenged Collins to participate in six one-hour debates.

“In Maine, we consider debate and dialogue as fundamental to our open political process – whether it’s at the corner store, in the work place or in a public forum,” said Pingree. “There is no better way to show voters that we respect and value their opinions than by meeting with them face to face to discuss the issues and outline our priorities.”

Abbott views the Pingree challenge as a desperate move by a failing campaign. A poll released last week of 523 likely Maine voters found that 60 percent intended to vote for Collins and 28 percent for Pingree. Eight percent remained undecided.

The poll was conducted Sept. 7-10 by RKM Research and Communications for WLBZ 2 Bangor, WCSH 6 Portland, the Bangor Daily News and Maine Public Broadcasting. It has a 4.3 percent margin of error.