Hurt And Perriello To Debate One on One

By Jason Kenney | Saturday, August 14th, 2010 | Policy

After passing on Wednesday’s Senior Statesmen of Virginia forum on Wednesday, Robert Hurt’s campaign on Friday released a statement welcoming Tom Perriello’s offer of one-on-one debates between now and November’s election.

Perriello’s office offered four one-on-one televised debates. Hurt’s statement (available below) did not specify how many he would attend.

This statement appears to settle the lingering issue of whether or not Jeffery Clark, independent candidate in the 5th district, should be included in debates. Clark’s viability to even play spoiler is in doubt in the wake of Jim McKelvey’s delayed endorsement of Hurt and  a recent SurveyUSA poll showing Hurt with 23 point lead over Perrillo and Clark polling only 4%.

Robert Hurt, Republican candidate for Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District, today released the following statement:

“Over the course of the nine month Republican Primary my six primary opponents and I engaged in more than two dozen public debates and forums all across the Fifth District. These public debates and forums were instrumental in allowing the people of the Fifth District to get to know my vision for the future and this valuable discourse resulted in our decisive election with 50% of the vote in a crowded field of seven candidates.

Now that the field has been set, it is clear that the choice before the people of the Fifth District is whether they want two more years of Congressman Perriello and his job-killing policies or a new congressman who will listen to his constituents and fight for our people, our main street businesses and our farms that actually create jobs here in the Fifth District.

From the time of my nomination, I have invited Congressman Perriello to engage in as many one-on-one debates as possible so that the people of the Fifth District will be well informed as to our two competing visions for the future. Until now, Congressman Perriello has simply dodged one on one debates in an effort to distract the voters from the clear choice they have in this election.”

I welcome the news that Congressman Perriello is now willing to stop the distracting political gamesmanship and directly face the people of the Fifth District in a one-on-one format where the Congressman can defend his support of his job-killing agenda and his record of putting the needs of Nancy Pelosi ahead of the needs of the fine people he represents.”

See Rick Sincere’s coverage of Wednesday’s forum with Perriello and Clark here.

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