In arguably the most watched U.S House race in the country, the two main candidates will not debate each other. There is a debate scheduled, but the Republican challenger, Daniel Webster, refuses to participate because of the inclusion of a third party candidate, Florida Tea Party candidate Peg Dunmire. Congressman Alan Grayson has insisted all along that all candidates be included in any debate, which brings us to this impasse. We are now left with what seems a pointless debate taking place tomorrow evening between the incumbent Alan Grayson and Peg Dunmire, a long shot if there ever was one.
It is not going to be televised. No one is expecting more than a handful of people to attend. It will air on a radio station that no one seems to be able to name off hand without looking around for the information.
My question is thus: if the two main candidates in an election won't participate in a debate together - for whatever reason - is it even worth holding a debate between the leftover candidates who will? Does anyone even care at that point?
I'll be at the debate, no matter what, though. I'm producing a documentary on this race, Street Fighting Man: The Political Mind of Alan Grayson. It's exactly this type of absurdity in the electoral process that brought us to Orlando to follow this race in the first place. The games, the push and pull, the little battles that take place over every little thing, including events as important to an election as a debate.
In the end, this is what politics looks like in America. Here in Florida's 8th District, in a battle the entire country is watching, the two main candidates won't do the voters the service of finding a compromise so that when they go to the polls, they go with the most information possible.