I’ve been told by more than one source that GOP Senate candidate Jamie Radtke, who backed out of last week’s tea party-sponsored debate, after first agreeing to attend, made a last minute attempt to get back into the event…just so long as it was called a “forum” rather than a “debate.”
The organizers refused to do so. In response, a prominent Ratdke supporter threatened the organizers that he would get all the candidates to withdraw and leave the tea party folks with an empty stage.
Obviously, that bluster didn’t succeed and the event went on as scheduled.
It’s not unheard of for campaigns to get snippy with debate organizers over any number of issues. It’s quite another to threaten to scuttle an event. It’s worse when a campaign that’s still running over $80,000 in the red believes it can dictate terms to anyone about much at all.
