Four to debate Oct. 13 on AETN

Cotton accepts invitation; Pryor camp alleges foot-dragging

Correction: Michael Hibblen, news director for radio station KUAR, will be a panelist for the Oct. 13 Arkansas Educational Television Network debate between the U.S. Senate candidates, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, Green Party candidate Mark Swaney and Libertarian candidate Nathan LaFrance. This article misidentified the panelist from KUAR.

U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton's campaign announced Tuesday that the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate had accepted an invitation from the Arkansas Educational Television Network to debate his opponents on Oct. 13.

The debate is the second approved by Cotton and incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, and it will include Libertarian candidate Nathan LaFrance and Green Party candidate Mark Swaney. Cotton and Pryor have sparred over the details of a handful of debates over the past four months, with new ideas being proposed almost weekly.

The AETN debate is a long-standing tradition for candidates for federal or statewide office in Arkansas. The debate will be recorded in Conway at 2 p.m. and aired the same night on the public education network at 8 p.m. AETN plans to rerun the debate on Nov. 2.

Cotton's campaign spokesman said his candidate had ironed out details before agreeing to the debate.

The panelists for the debate will be Doug Thompson of Northwest Arkansas News, Gwen Moritz of Arkansas Business in Little Rock, and Jacob Kauffman of Little Rock public radio station KUAR.

Cotton and Pryor had previously agreed to an Oct. 14 debate sponsored by the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce that will be broadcast on Little Rock's KATV, Channel 7; Jonesboro's KAIT, Channel 8; and on KHBS/KHOG, Channels 40/29 in Northwest Arkansas. The third-party candidates were not invited.

"We have committed to eight televised debates, and we stand ready to participate in all eight of them," said spokesman David Ray. "It's up to Sen. Pryor to determine how many he thinks the voters of Arkansas deserve. Right now he thinks they only deserve one chance to see the candidates debate one-on-one, and he doesn't think that foreign policy should be included."

In the spring, Little Rock's KARK, Channel 4, invited Pryor and Cotton to debate, and issued a second debate invitation last week featuring Meet the Press host Chuck Todd as the proposed moderator. Pryor's campaign officials reportedly told the station that they would not consider additional debates until the AETN debate was settled.

Ray issued a statement calling on Pryor's campaign to consider the other six invitations that Cotton had accepted. It was unclear Tuesday if all of those invitations were still valid because one was from KATV and another from KAIT -- both of which have signed on to televise the Fayetteville Chamber debate.

Regardless, Pryor spokesman Erik Dorey said Tuesday that "the debate over debates" was over, noting that with five weeks left until Election Day and three weeks until early voting starts, the campaign would not be accepting other debate invitations.

"Our position has been consistent: when Cotton agrees on AETN, we'll consider other debates," Dorey said. "We never expected Cotton's folks to drag their feet on something that has been a staple of what Arkansas candidates have done for decades and decades. We thought that would take a couple of weeks back in July, but instead it took the better part of three months, to the point where we have five weeks left."

Ray said he hoped Pryor would consider the latest KARK proposal, which he said would reach all but six of Arkansas' 75 counties. The chamber debate on Oct. 14 will not be broadcast on stations in 22 counties, he said.

Debates over debates are not uncommon, especially in heated statewide races. In 2010, Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln faced her Republican challenger John Boozman in three debates, including an October AETN debate, as well as another debate in August and one in July.

The two haggled unsuccessfully over a proposal to meet for a town-hall-style meeting, with Lincoln counterproposing a town-hall debate in each of the four congressional districts. The debate over those town-hall meetings lasted from mid-September almost until the November election.

Metro on 10/01/2014

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