Where's Foley?
Republican nominee Tom Foley
backed out of a debate with Democratic candidate Governor Dan Malloy and unaffiliated candidate Joe Visconti. As a result, the debate started out with an empty third chair (later removed) and an explanation from the debate moderator Gerry Brooks.
"That brings us to the elephant who is not in the room," Brooks said at the beginning of the forum. "Republican Tom Foley has elected not to take part in tonight's discussion of the issues. We have been in constant touch with Mr. Foley's camp in the weeks leading up to the event; they have never articulated a particular objection to tonight's format."
In a race that is neck and neck (latest Quinnipiac poll has Malloy up over Foley by 1 point), this was a terrible visual for Foley. He got pounded all night as the moderator continually reminded people that Foley refused to show up, whereas Malloy could advertise his successes as governor almost unopposed. He also got served up an opening softball on Foley's absence on which he easily connected.
"It's a strange thing but I also think it's disrespectful. The people of Connecticut deserve to hear from the candidates. He accepted this invitation, he then, for whatever reason... he's not here," Malloy said. "I think it's a missed opportunity to have a real discussion in a different kind of context."
Visconti provided some pushback, but his attacks were not terribly effective and actually allowed Malloy to respond to issues to once again touch on his successes in reducing the tremendous deficits and rates of spending that grew under the previous Republican administration.
Perhaps Foley made a calculated bet that the negative visual was easier to absorb then being forced to talk about how this multi-millionaire paid only $673 in federal taxes last year.
Perhaps this approach is why the Republican Minority leader of the State Senate John McKinney said:
“Tom Foley appears to think he is entitled to this election…. He offers no specifics, refuses to answer questions about his positions on issues and challenges reporters and citizens who confront this lack of detail.”
We see yet another example of how Republicans fail under the spotlight of hard questions and true discussion. When they can't hide behind FoxNews and similar platforms, they wilt. Will it be enough to bring electoral success for Democrats in the next week and a half? That is up to us.