From Emilie Ritter Saunders/Boise State Public Radio: Otter's requirement to include perennial candidates like Brown and Bayes goes back more than a decade when Brown and Otter were both running for the U.S. Congress in 2000. Otter got nearly 48 percent of the vote in that Republican primary. Brown took 1.1 percent of the vote. Sources tell KBSX it was that year that Otter made a promise to Brown, who wasn't invited to participate in a televised debate at another network. As the story goes, Brown was upset, caused a scene and didn't want the debate to continue without him. Otter pulled Brown aside and in exchange for Brown agreeing to leave the stage that day, Otter promised he'd always include Brown in any future debates. More here.

• China Veldhouse Gum (Fulcher campaign director) tweet: Please remember that Butch Otter demanded these 2 candidates are included in this debate so he wouldn't have to answer questions.

Question: Do you think Otter was fulfilling a promise in demanding that Brown be part of last night's debate? Or simply shrewd, knowing that the colorul character would distract viewers from important issues involving Fulcher and him?