>Frontrunners don't have to debate.

Nor straw men.

Not that a fine establishment such as yours holds countenance for such crude pedestrain activities such as "wagering", but Im willing to bet a bottle of your finest clear adult beverage that Walter F. Mondale is not only going to be defeated next tuesday, but soundly so.

Walter Mondale a "front runner"? to paraphrase John Clesse in the famous parrot sketch " He wouldn't be front runner if you ran 70,000 volts through him "

I made my predictions a week ago, R's up by 2 in the senate. Minnesota will go Republican. The single most common phrase I've heard from friends and family in Minnesota since he's been nominated is
" Is Walter Mondale still alive?!"

I'd suggest that current video evidence shows otherwise, but Im a registered smartass.

Hey, no one has to debate, but it doesn't say much for the candidate who shuns the podium, which is one of our finest campaign traditions.

Note Mondale's comments about the Friday event:

- at first, he was unavailable as he had some other event (wha? he only began his campaign Tuesday? how could he have been booked already?)

- then, he said that he would not be able to debate because he would be out meeting with Minnesota voters, explaining his positions (hmmm...seems like doing it on TV in front of hundreds of thousands might be a better use of time)

So, in short, he's a weenie.

Yeah.

P.S. I had to laugh about Doug Forrester chasing around Frank Lautenberg at that Columbus Day event in NJ...behind Forrester, two of his staffers lugging podiums in an attempt to get Frank to debate.

Steve, your example doeesn't compute. Mondale is now older than Reagan was when he debated to prove he was up to it. Why doesn't Mondale have to debate for the very same reason?

The real reason Mondale doesn't have to debate is that the media will give him a pass. A Republican, now he would be excoriated for that selfsame failure to show up.

Frank:

Being the nitpicking schmuck that I am, wasn't it 50,000 volts?

Well, whats a couple of thousand volts here or there when youre attempting to reanimate the dead.

Besides its not the volts that'll get ya, its the amps!

Nobody has to debate but when one guy refuses the other side HAS to raise hell about it.

I can't remember when we became party members instead of Americans, but it was a sad day indeed.

Sorry, your voltage estimates were both a bit low:

Owner: Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart with its beak, and VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

Mr. Praline: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this bird wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!

Owner: No no! 'E's pining!

I agree, though. He wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts him.

Ironic, isn't it. Mondale not being very bashful about appealing to voters with "I am honored to step into Paul's shoes." But not "honored" enough to actually show up to an event Paul already agreed to.

"bob in the hills", the year was 1796. The Fed/D-R split led to the arrest of newspaper publishers under the Sedition Act, the invention of the Nullification Doctrine, Mayberry vs. Madison, and New England almost seceding from the Union durning the War of 1812.

Being the nitpicking schmuck that I am, wasn't it 50,000 volts?

No. 5,000. "That parrot wouldn't VOOM if you put five thousand volts to it!"

Re voltage: I am recalling the version I heard. I think it changes dependent on when it is done, and where. I think the voltage was higher at Covent Garden than it was on the TV version, :-{)}

"I think the voltage was higher at Covent Garden than it was on the TV version"

isn't it always?

anyway, sorry to ruin the whole party, but mondale has agreed to debate coleman (not that it'll make much difference to anybody), monday morning at 11 am st. paul time, at the fitzgerald theatre, home to the garrison keillor, the guy who ripped his act off from jean shepherd.

Okay, heads up here...

If the race is "too close to call" then Mondale is NOT the "frontrunner".

Since he's blown a five point lead in five days, by Tuesday, he's on track to be down by 4. Coleman wins, sorry Charlie.

Sure, Mondale doesn't have to debate (for purely political reasons, e.g., he will look, not only like a fool, but like an old fool), but by the same token his opponents are allowed to trash him for refusing to debate (also for purely political reasons).

It is interesting, isn't it, that apparently there is no upside for Mondale in getting in front of the public. He has to weigh the damage from being seen in a debate against the damage from not being seen in a debate. That's some candidate the Dems have there, eh? (as the Minnesotans would say)

Update: Debate Monday night. Mondale came to his senses, or something.

1. If I were the Republican Party in Minn., I probably would have gone off about the failure to debate Friday too, but I do think it's a little unfair not to give someone a full week into his campaign to study up for a debate. In fact, I think that's the point. They wanted to try to get him into a debate before he could possibly be prepared.

2. I can't friggin believe that the party of Strom Thurmond wants to make lack of youth an issue for Senant races now.

The major parties turn me off a little bit more each election cycle. (Griping about Republicans in this post, but have rarely been more disgusted than by that shameful "memorial" the DFL put on.)

Actually, its Monday morning, while the only live viewers will be the lazy and unemployed, Dem target audience. The rest will be getting the "Media's take" on the debate. Wanna guess who they will prefer?

Also, weird format, 20 minutes from Journalists questions, 40 minutes from the audience. I wonder who will be paqcking that audience for a edge.

Denise has a point (though neither Strom nor Helms is running for re-election). The problem with Mondale isn't his age, but that even in his prime he wasn't that attractive a potential candidate. Much has been made of his "experience" but his experience was 4 years as Vice President under Jimmy Carter. That kind of experience we don't need. He promised tax increases and argued with Gary Hart about who came out first in favor of the nuclear freeze. Those were bad ideas then, they're even worse now.

The party of Strom Thurmond? When did the Dixiecrats come back?

Skippy, Thank you, thank you , thank you! Thanks for the link to the Jean Shepherd webpage. Shepherd was one of America's greatest story-tellers, as evidenced by the soon-to-be Christmas classic, "The Christmas Story". I first heard Jean Shepherd when my mom was listening to a talking book of "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories." Which, by chance, I just picked up at a used bookstore last week. The chance to listen to some of Shepherd's radio recordings is absolutely priceless.
OBLIGATORY WEBPAGE COMMENT: VP, love the commentary. I don't always agree, but I am always entertained. Thanks.

Dang Frank I thought I was the only one predicting that the Reps would be up by at least 2 in the Senate. You and me againist the world. I hope you posted you prediction because I sure did.

Skippy,
Thanks for the Shep link. I used to listen to him when I was a kid, towards the end of his career and he was great. Now I am reduced to trolling usenet to find his old routines.

Well, the Vodka Pundit is right. Mondale blew the lead, is not the frontrunner, so now the debate is on!

"Mate, this bird wouldn't 'VOOM' if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' DEMISED!"

"No, No. 'E's pining."

No comment until the votes have been rigged, errrrrr.... counted.

Needs a week to prepare for the debate? Shouldn't a politician have opinions of their own on subject, opinions that should not require preparation and poll taking? That is precisely where Albert Gore Jr. went wrong in 2000.

You know you're resume, you know what you believe in, the rest are details that can be glossed over. Assuming the folks in Minn like his resume and his opinons.

"Kids, frontrunners don't have to debate, end of story."

If that were really the "end of story", then there would be virtually no debates in any election in the country: There's almost always a frontronner. The fact that there are debates in virtually all races shows that debates are an important part of the dance candidates are expected to go through as a price of getting elected.

While it's true that front-runners have all the leverage in terms of setting the time and format for a debate, because the underdog needs the debate more, I think it's an overstatement to say that front-runners simply don't have to debate.

BREAKING NEWS

Peggy Noonan says Mondale did OK, but scores it a win for Coleman.

Peggy Noonan is wrong. i read the transcript of the debate and Mondale won. Sorry.

oh wait. peggy noonan is chiefly concerned with image-- Mondales glasses did not work so well. i guess norm did win...

It was a good debate (Sabato called it the best of the season). Mondale did fine...darn fine considering he just jumped on board a week ago...but Coleman was damn solid...lots of jibing and countermoves, and no clear winner, IMO. Mondale proved he's not a decrepit, oxygen-wearing dope, and Coleman stood his ground and handled a difficult situation with deft.

agreed.
mondale won based on expectations though. he surpassed everyone's. i thought coleman would make him look dead, and he didnt.