Maes, Hick give Tancredo cold shoulder in joint 10-debate schedule

Friday, American Constitution candidate for governor Tom Tancredo issued a statement asking Democratic candidate John Hickenlooper to agree to six one-on-one debates with Tancredo.

Apparently ignoring Tancredo’s request, Hickenlooper today issued a joint statement with Republican candidate Dan Maes saying those two candidates had agreed on 10 debates between the two of them —leaving Tancredo out in the cold.

Are they afraid to debate Tancredo? Neither candidate immediately returned calls wherein that question was posed to voice mail. Tancredo also did not quickly return a call. The Maes-Hickenlooper joint release says: “The debate schedule is based on invitations the campaigns received and joint availability of the candidates. Any decision on inviting third-party candidates is up to the individual event sponsors.”

They released the following schedule:

Sept. 2: Colorado Decides 2010 “Gubernatorial General Election Debate;” Denver

Sept. 11: Club 20; Grand Junction

Sept. 17: Progressive 15; Loveland

Sept. 25: Action 22; Colorado Springs

Oct. 5: Channel 7; Denver

Oct. 12 Pueblo Chieftain; Pueblo

Oct. 13: The Denver Post/ 9news; Denver

Oct. 14 Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry; Denver

Oct. 22 Fox 31; Denver

Oct. 29 CBS 4; Denver

The two candidates also pledged in the release to run an issues oriented campaign. “Coloradans are sick and tired of the personal attacks that tend to typify election season,” Maes said in the release. “John and I will engage each other on the issues.”

Hickenlooper, in the same release, is quoted as saying, “Dan and I have had healthy disagreements on various issues throughout the campaign so far, but I respect the way he has campaigned with class and respect.”

Tancredo, in his release last Friday, said “Since Dan Maes is no longer a viable opponent today, I am challenging Mayor Hickenlooper to six one-on-one debates.”

Scot Kersgaard has been managing editor of a political newspaper, editor and co-owner of a ski town newspaper, executive editor of eight high-tech magazines (where he worked with current Apple CEO Tim Cook), deputy press secretary to a U.S. Senator, and an outdoors columnist at the Rocky Mountain News. He has an English degree from the University of Washington. He was awarded a fellowship to study internet journalism at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. He was student body president in college. He spends his free time hiking and skiing.

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