Minnick Asks Craig For 10 Debates But Senator Says He’s Too Busy For So Many So Late In Game

Walt Minnick wants 10 debates with Larry Craig, but Idaho’s incumbent U.S. senator says he’s too busy.

Besides, there is a debate airing on Idaho Public Television Sept. 29 and that gives everybody the opportunity to see the two men exchange words, the Craig campaign said.

Minnick, a Democrat and former Boise timber company executive, is disappointed. “He’s the college debate champion,” Minnick said Tuesday. “He shouldn’t be afraid of debating a political neophyte who has spent his career in business.”

There is a long tradition of political debates between candidates in major Idaho races. For example, there were 10 between U.S. Sen. Dirk Kempthorne and Richard Stallings in 1992, nine between Idaho Gov. Phil Batt and then attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Larry Echohawk, Minnick said.

“You owe it to yourself and to the voters of Idaho to make yourself accessible,” Minnick said.

The Craig camp says it’s a stunt. “This late in the game, we think this is just a campaign gimmick by Walt Minnick, knowing full well that Sen. Craig has official business to do on behalf of the people of Idaho,” said Mike Tracy, Craig’s campaign manager.

“If Larry took time away from those official duties to spend time campaigning back here, Walt would be critical of that,” Tracy said. If Minnick was serious, Tracy said, he would have proposed the debates much earlier in the year.

Craig has even less spare time now that President Clinton appointed him to the Terrorism Task Force, Tracy said. There’s little campaign time and Craig intends to commit much of it to his statewide bus tour, “where Larry goes community to community, stands face to face with the voters, and answers their questions,” Tracy said.

Moreover, Craig isn’t ducking debate with Minnick. He’s agreed to a debate on public TV “which now covers over 90 percent of the households in the state,” Tracy said.

Idaho Public Television officials say they hit more than 97 percent of Idaho households. But the average prime-time viewing audience is only 16,280 people. And the last major political debate - between Batt and Echohawk - drew 30,000 viewers. That’s a small portion of Idaho’s more than 600,000 registered voters.

Bill Broadhead, Minnick’s spokesman, said Craig’s bus tour is the perfect opportunity for the debates because Idaho’s senior senator probably will be in the 10 areas of the state where Minnick wants to debate. “We’re not asking Larry Craig to miss his votes to debate us, we’re asking him to debate us when he’s in the state.”

University of Idaho political scientist Florence A. Heffron says Craig has nothing to gain by agreeing to the debates. It merely gives a challenger like Minnick exposure and name recognition among undecided voters - probably 20 percent of the voters.

If Craig is having an off night, “it could cost him votes,” said Heffron. “I wouldn’t do it.”

Why then agree to the Idaho Public Television debate? “Public TV is relatively harmless because nobody watches it,” Heffron said.

Plus, “the 16,000 people who watch it are strong partisans anyway.”

Craig has declined other invitations. In late May, students from Albertsons College of Idaho invited him to a debate anytime his schedule would accommodate it, said Jasper LiCalzi, who teaches political science and advises the student political clubs. Again, Craig said he didn’t have time.

, DataTimes