Franken Refuses To Debate A Girl

Priscilla Lord Faris wants to be taken seriously as a DFL candidate for the U.S. Senate seat. While she’s running television ads and traveling the state, there's one traditional campaign event she hasn't been able to do so far—debate her opponent. DFL-endorsed Al Franken won the party’s backing in June. As far as he's concerned, Republican Norm Coleman is his opponent. So he won't agree to any pre-primary debates with Lord Faris or anyone else. "I'm the endorsed candidate of this party.Priscilla Lord FarisWe went through a long process and I was very proud to receive the endorsement on the first ballot and receive it by acclamation," said Franken. Franken said he debated his DFL opponents for the party endorsement multiple times, and doesn’t plan to Lord Faris or any other DFL candidate running in the primary. "I did 17 debates during the primary, caucus season up to the convention. I’m not going to debate her. I’m not going to debate Dick Franzen. I’m not going to debate Ole Saviour," Franken explained.
Al FrankenLord Faris said she assumes Franken is being advised by campaign strategists not to debate her. But that won't stop her from conducting a "mock" debate."That's fine. He can follow their advice. But I’ll use some other unique ways to debate him and they'll be fun and I’m going to have fun at this," Lord Faris said. Political science professor Larry Jacobs said denying Lord Faris a publicity opportunity is smart strategy. "It might well irritate Minnesota voters who would like to see them match up. But from a political strategy point of view, it's the only way for Franken to go," Jacobs said.