Katie Didn’t Take the Bait
Katie Hobbs declines to debate Trump ally Kari Lake.
Arizona Gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs has declined to openly debate Trump ally Kari Lake. And this has set Democrat poll watchers’ teeth on edge. (1)
This election cycle Democrats have accomplished some pretty strange things, creating issues of mistrust among voters. Like funding MAGA extremists’ campaigns at the primary level, figuring that they would be easier prey at the general election…
Ooops.
Like staging voter focus groups to determine the damage Pennsylvania Senator Candidate John Fetterman’s stroke recovery might cost at the ballot box…
Ooops.
Like leaking strategy caution on ‘overspending’ on Stacey Abrams’ campaign for Georgia Governor…
Ooops.
This, while down the block, Democrats are staring at Georgia Senator candidate Herschel Walker receiving the fund-raising accolades from the media.
Double ‘Ooops…’
And now this: Democrat strategists asking why Katie won’t debate Kari.
Before accusing myself of perpetrating the same dirty laundry airing, let’s pause and consider,
Spare the voters?
Spare your candidate?
These are the questions Democrat strategists have not resolved, and what are felicitously referred to as ‘getting the message out.’
And America is in the final round of the mid-term elections. The final twenty-odd days. The nail-biting media terror of an ‘October surprise.’
On one level, Democrats should be well aware of the Katie Hobbs ‘problem.’ They helped create it.
Credit Candidate Hobbs for a reluctance to step into culture war issues, the proverbial ‘he said, she said’ of partisan-driven messaging.
Credit Candidate Hobbs for speaking to a voter’s aspiration for the society and governing they would prefer.
Quaint salves like ‘decency,’ come to mind.
Recall that candidate Biden teed up “decency” in his 2020 Presidential campaign and since has urged his supporters to fight a recalcitrant, cultish opposition, who long ago abandoned ‘decency.’ (2)
“Semi-fascists” comes to mind.
According to recent NYTimes voter research, Hobbs’ reluctance to pitch voters’ fear fever may be on target.
Rather than trumpet her opponent’s position on abortion, eg. punish women and the doctors who serve their medical needs, Hobbs shifts to sharing consequences of her opponents’ reasoning: how does one maintain public safety if police are chasing down doctors and nurses?
Several Hobbs ads show Chris Nanos, the grizzled sheriff of Pima County, in uniform. Mr. Nanos warns in one spot that Arizona law enforcement officers could be required to arrest doctors and nurses who perform abortions if Ms. Lake becomes governor. He says such a move would divert resources from fighting crime and illegal immigration. (3)
Rather than speak to conspiracy-laced theorizing about the 2020 election, Hobbs chose rather to widen the voter platform by refusing to abet its perversion.
Ms. Hobbs has said she was merely reacting to the way Lake conducted herself during a Republican primary debate in June in which she dodged questions and repeated falsehoods about what happened in 2020. “I have no desire to be a part of the spectacle that she’s looking to create, because that doesn’t do any service to the voters,” Ms. Hobbs said on Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” (4)
Katie Hobbs is currently Arizona’s Secretary of State. Cable viewers may recall her calm demeanor during the Arizona 2020 election recount, when viewers were greeted by ‘ninja electioneers:’ election deniers in her backyard who shamelessly fouled themselves.
Hobbs is running against a louder voice “in the room,” with little government experience and lots of disdain for governance to make up for her lack of experience and service.
On the debate stage, such a face-off would qualify as a “lose-lose,” and another advertisement for adopting the blindness of the “dark side.”
This is not “Nixon-Kennedy:” far from it. (5)
On another level, consider Hobbs’ arising from the modest public exposure of Secretary of State, taking on a media “flash in the pan.” Why participate in a public space that is far removed from your terrain?
Why appear to be someone you’re not?
Hobbs has agreed to a PBS interview. There will be difficult questions for sure. But her voice will not be shouted out.
Who is more credible, PBS or a dog whistler?
And the other level might be one the political pundits don’t see: Hobbs creating space for reaching those who are not looking but who will vote. The ones, consider, that poll watchers and focus group tea leaf readers miss.
Hobbs’ campaign embodies the norms one takes for granted in running a democracy. So why abandon her and them?
Voters will want to know.
October 16
Notes
1-Blake Hounshell, “Democrats Worry They’re Being Overshadowed in Arizona’s Governor Race,” NYTimes, Saturday, October 15
Candidate Hobbs didn’t decline to debate Kari Lake; Hobbs objected to the open debate ‘q and a’ format, stipulating instead a “town hall” format.
2-https://rodneyclough.medium.com/september-1-philadelphia-a8560f16420e
3-Hounshell, ibid.
4-Houshell, ibid.
5-The first televised debate between Presidential Candidates, televised by WBBM-TV, Chicago, September 26, 1960. Since that time, debate followers have cited the Nixon-Kennedy debate as the factor that brought Kennedy fame and the White House.
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