Judy Woodruff
Photo credit: PBS
By Dick Hall-Sizemore
Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee for governor has declined to participate in what has become a traditional kick-off for gubernatorial candidates, a debate at the annual meeting of the Virginia Bar Association. His reason — the moderator gave $250 in 2010 to a Haitian disaster relief fund run by the Clinton Foundation. Never mind that the proposed moderator, Judy Woodruff, is a prize-winning journalist and has moderated Presidential debates, as well as several of the VBA debates.
So far, the two candidates have both agreed to participate in only one debate. McAuliffe has accepted invitations to four other debates and Youngkin, one other. The McAuliffe campaign says that it has not declined to participate in the one other debate that Youngkin has accepted (sponsored by Liberty University, Hampton University, and the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce). The Youngkin campaign refuses to say whether it has declined any of the other four that McAuliffe has accepted. (For full story see here or here.)
As Steve Haner pointed out recently, it is not that long before early voting starts. Youngkin needs to get out and introduce himself to voters. Or maybe he is hoping that, with all his money, he can rely on advertising.
