Herschensohn’s Call for Weekly Debates Refused

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn, hoping to infuse some life into the summer political doldrums, got a quick “No, thanks” Tuesday when he suggested that he and his opponent, Democratic Rep. Barbara Boxer, debate each other once a week until the election in November.

Herschensohn unveiled the proposal to reporters Tuesday and planned to go public with it today in 30-second television commercials to be broadcast briefly throughout the state.

Operating on a slim budget, Herschensohn, a radio and television commentator before he decided to run for the seat being given up by Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston, will run the ads only once on most stations.

After introducing himself at the beginning of the ad, Herschensohn says that he has real differences in political philosophy with Boxer, proposes the weekly debate plan and argues, “It can be a great campaign of ideas that way.”

In preliminary sparring, Boxer has been portraying the ultraconservative Herschensohn as someone whose political views are out of the mainstream, while the Republican is painting her as someone who is “about as liberal as you can get.”

With both sides eager to expose the opposing viewpoint, Herschensohn told the lone reporter who showed up at his Los Angeles news conference: “Debates are really the only way to do it.” Later in the day, he met with reporters in San Francisco and Sacramento.

Boxer, at this early stage in the campaign, is ahead of Herschensohn by just about any measure--from public opinion polls to fund raising to the momentum she generated at the recent Democratic National Convention--and was in no mood to scrap her campaign plans and join Herschensohn in a high-profile debate tour of California.

Rose Kapolczynski, Boxer’s campaign manager, said Boxer had already agreed to meet Herschensohn in a statewide televised debate in October, and probably will agree to one or two more debates. But as for meeting him every week, she said Boxer wasn’t interested.

“I don’t think there is any disagreement about debates, but we have a lot of other things on our schedule between now and November. I don’t think weekly debates necessarily are the best way for voters to get their questions answered about Barbara Boxer and what her plans are in the Senate,” Kapolczynski said.

Ken Khachigian, Herschensohn’s campaign manager, said Boxer was not being consistent with the image she cultivated in the primary as a fighter. “So, the Boxer is not a fighter. Are we now going to call her a shadowboxer?” Khachigian said. “In the primary, she said she wanted change. She said she wanted to open the political process. Now, here she is: the ultimate play it safe, play it close to the vest candidate.”

Kapolczynski disputed the notion that Boxer was playing it safe. “Barbara is going to be campaigning day and night, with an aggressive schedule that calls for talk shows, county fairs and other public forums where anything can happen. That’s not playing it safe.”