Lisa Muxworthy, a Waukesha County, Wisconsin-based progressive political blogger who writes under the pen name Lisa Mux at Blogging Blue and is one of Rob Zerban's staunchest supporters, called for a Ryan-Zerban debate on August 30.
Muxworthy's call for a Ryan-Zerban debate was repeated by the editorial board of the Racine Journal-Times on September 19. The Journal-Times editorial board mentioned the fact that Ryan has agreed to debate his past congressional opponents without any controversy, and even went as far as to say that Joe Biden should have debated his 2008 U.S. Senate opponent, Christine O'Donnell.
On October 3, several hours before President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney faced off in the first of three presidential debates, Rob Zerban, the Democratic congressional opponent to Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District, delivered a 50,000-signature petition demanding a Ryan-Zerban debate to Paul Ryan's Janesville campaign office.
Zerban's begging for a debate against Paul Ryan reminds me an awful lot of Paul Wellstone's begging for a debate against Rudy Boschwitz during the 1990 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota. Wellstone wanted to debate Boschwitz so badly, he went as far as to put out a television ad which chronicled Wellstone's attempts to get Boschwitz to debate him. Wellstone ultimately defeated Boschwitz in a stunning upset, and Wellstone's constant demands to debate Boschwitz were credited to helping propel Wellstone to victory.
Paul Ryan should debate Rob Zerban. If Ryan does not debate Zerban, Ryan will be seen as running away from the very people that helped him gain a spot in the national political spotlight in the first place by electing him to Congress seven times.
Rob Zerban is Paul Wellstone reincarnated, and Paul Ryan should treat Rob Zerban as a serious opponent.