http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5926845/ "It's not a fear of the format," said the adviser, who refused to be identified to avoid annoying Bush. "They want two debates that are focused on clear differences on foreign and domestic policy. We benefit from the differences." to be fair, the article also said that Clinton only participated in two debates in '96
Of course Bush is backing out - he is a wuss and a mental midget, no matter how "earnest" his lemming Reep followers think he is. It's to his advantage to continue running unchallenged attack ads and speeches.
Actually, I wonder how this will affect Bush in Missouri, a battleground state that has gone with the winner in every election since, well, dammit, a long time... (brain fart on the stats... although if you are a cheeky bastard, you can always cite Gore in 2000...) Seriously, if he's backing out, will that have a negative effect in the Show-Me State?
The Commission on Presidential Debates set the schedule. Bush's failure to adhere to that schedule is a failure to face anything even remotely approaching reality regarding his record. Kerry should show up at Wash U. anyway on that night, and the networks should cover his appearance for the full 90-minute session that had been reserved for the debate.
I think the bush campaign is in a no win situation, because most of the time the incubant has a lot to lose and very little to gain in these debates, but on the other hand, this will also lose him some voters in a very important state. i also think its funny that his aides don't want to be identified to avoid annoying bushy
Tru dat. I saw Bush backing out of at least one debate, going for the bare minimum. Then again, Bush seems pretty comfortable getting by with the bare minimum, whether it's National Guard service or Presidential debates...
Two minutes after this story broke, Kerry's campaign should have been out there announcing that "John Kerry will show up as scheduled to debate Dubya. If Dubya decides not to take questions from voters in a key swing state, Sen. Kerry will still answer the questions of the voters in the same format." Then he uses a big chunck of money to buy air time in urban areas of the big swing states.
The format of this debate was IMO to a) be the most interesting and b) ironically enough the most advantageous to Bush. a) The format was undecided voters in a town-hall style debate. The undecideds would have been picked and vetted by Zogby. In other words neither campaign would have been able to control the questions. b) Bush actually performs better in town-hall syle informal settings. I think he gets stiffer behind the podium.