CAN'T SEE THE FORRESTER FOR THE GEEZ:

Lautenberg camp sends his regrets on debate: Torricelli earlier had agreed to face Forrester on "Meet the Press." But the new Senate candidate begged off. (Tom Turcol, October 17, 2002, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Frank R. Lautenberg, seeking to avoid debates with Republican Douglas Forrester as long as possible, has refused to participate in a nationally televised debate this Sunday.

Officials at NBC's Meet the Press confirmed yesterday that Lautenberg aides, after delaying a response for two weeks, informed them Tuesday night that their candidate would not debate Forrester.

Sen. Robert G. Torricelli had agreed to the debate before he dropped out of the race and was replaced by Lautenberg as the Democratic candidate two weeks ago.

Lautenberg, a former three-term senator who did not seek reelection in 2000, has yet to debate Forrester, with less than three weeks left until the Nov. 5 election.

Tim Russert, the Meet the Press moderator, has used his show in recent weeks as a debate forum for several top Senate races in the country.

Forrester has agreed to debate at any time, but Lautenberg has shown little enthusiasm for going head-to-head against his Republican opponent in a televised setting.

The only televised debate that the Democratic camp has agreed to is scheduled for the Saturday evening before the election on WNBC-TV's New York affiliate.

Here's maybe the decisive moment in this campaign for Mr. Forrester. He has to take the kid gloves off and make Mr. Lautenberg's capacity to fulfill the duties of the job into the central issue of the campaign.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 17, 2002 11:50 PM