Still Debating the Debates

The Gazette is reporting on the ongoing debate about how many debates Gov. Ehrlich and Mayor O'Malley will engage in:

Debate negotiations between Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley have devolved into politics as usual, although both campaigns have said they want to have multiple debates before November’s general election.

Phone calls and letters have been exchanged between the campaigns, but so far there have not been any formal meetings to hash out a schedule, format or locations for the debates. Instead, the campaigns are pointing fingers at each other.

‘‘We have done an enormous amount of work for the Ehrlich campaign ... all they have to do is make an internal decision on how many debates they are willing to do,” said Rick Abbruzzese, an O’Malley campaign spokesman.

The O’Malley campaign made available an Aug. 21 letter to Bo Harmon, Ehrlich’s campaign manager, listing several opportunities for five debates between Ehrlich and O’Malley and two between their running mates.

Five seems like a lot - I think most voters would stop paying attention after two. Three seems like the most reasonable and offers an opportunity to host one in the D.C. region (probably P.G. County, maybe southern Maryland), one in the Baltimore area (perhaps not the City of Baltimore, but Towson?) and one either in Western Maryland or on the Eastern Shore.

The D.C. debate could be on transportation policy and other issues that involve partnering with those "Damn Virginians" and District officials. Make the Baltimore debate about education, crime and other "bread and butter" issues - hell, if Bobby Haircut wants to talk about Baltimore's crime rate, do it in Baltimore. If he's going to attack the city, he damn-well ought to be expected to do it in their living rooms. Western Maryland and the Shore would be the perfect location to debate environmental and energy policy, with either the mountains or the Bay complimenting the event.

The most important thing, though, is that voters in both the state's markets (Washington and Baltimore) get the opportunity to see the candidates share the stage at least once before Election Day.

Originally posted at Outside the Beltway.