Perriello, Clark Hold Second Debate Tonight

by: aimeefausser

Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 14:33:12 PM EDT

The second Fifth District debate of the general election will be held tonight in Nelson County, and hosted by the Nelson County Chamber of Commerce. The debate's at 7 P.M. and will be broadcast online here.

Robert Hurt has a history of dodging debates. During the Republican primary, he was attacked by the Republican base for the same thing he's doing now--refusing to show up to the January Jefferson Area Tea Party debate. And he has not only not shown up to the first general election debate, but he has also been dodging questions, depending on other Republicans to answer for him. If Robert Hurt were elected to Congress, would he show the same lack of commitment to constituent relations? It's looking like instead of showing up to work for his constituents in the Fifth, Hurt would just give us an empty chair.

 UPDATE: Where exactly is Robert Hurt tonight? He's at a fundraiser with Reps. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). Sessions, if you'll remember, was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for his, uhm, work, with Jack Abramoff. Good to see who Robert Hurt counts as his friends! 

There are currently three debates scheduled that Robert Hurt has agreed to participate in (of course, only after saying that he wouldn't debate if Clark was included). Tom has been great about talking to his constituents and explaining his values, holding more town hall meetings than any other member of Congress last year, and scheduling 20 this year all over the district. Last year, during the heat and controversy of the Health Care Reform debate, Perriello and his staff stayed late at the meetings to make sure all questions got answered. Tom Perriello has even been reaching out to his constituents who are Tea Party members, but Hurt has yet to address some pretty big questions so far, much less show up for a debate. Hopefully, he'll show up in October; until then, two months out from the election, at least there are two candidates willing to talk about the issues in this race.