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Ted K too 'busy' to debate Senate foes
by Andrew Miga

Wednesday, October 25, 2000


WASHINGTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, for the first time in his 38-year career, will not debate his re-election rivals, claiming last night that he is too busy with his Senate duties.

Time constraints due to the congressional schedule have made a debate impossible, Kennedy spokesman Will Keyser said. Congress won't finish its business until later this week and may spill over into next week.

But Kennedy's decision to duck the debate sparked outrage from his Republican and Libertarian opponents.

Kennedy has pronounced himself a monarch, fumed Republican

foe Jack E. Robinson in a telephone interview with the Herald. King Teddy, that's what he is.

Libertarian candidate Carla Howell - who has been taunting Kennedy (D-Mass.) for months to debate her - blamed the Boston media for failing to press for a debate.

Senator Kennedy is neither campaigning nor debating in Massachusetts because the big Boston media hasn't required him to, said Howell in a statement released by her campaign. Only the two major newspapers and the three major TV stations have the influence and clout to force the man to campaign in his own state, and they have sadly failed their duty to the voters of Massachusetts.

A consortium of media outlets, which does not include the Herald, had attempted to arrange a debate between Kennedy and his opponents, setting a deadline of yesterday for the senator to respond.

Kennedy's decision to avoid the debate comes even though he is virtually assured of winning another six-year term. Robinson has been wracked by personal scandal, disavowed by his own party and has no campaign organization. Howell's third-party candidacy has generated little support statewide, polls have shown.

Aides said the 68-year-old senator, who first won election in 1962, plans to campaign throughout the state over the next two weeks before Election Day.

The senator is going to spend the remaining days . . . talking to the voters of Massachusetts about his view of the future, said Keyser.

While Kennedy said he is busy in Washington, the senator has been conducting a round of interviews this week with national media about the presidential race.

Last week, he joined President Clinton at a Lowell fund-raiser and campaigned for Democratic congressional candidates in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Last Thursday night he was in Buffalo campaigning for New York Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

His schedule this week included events in New Bedford and Boston.

Kennedy's decision was widely expected by analysts who contend the senior senator has little to gain by sharing a stage with two candidates who trail him badly in polls.

Robinson, who plans a news conference today, has promised to raise Kennedy's Chappaquiddick scandal if the campaign turns nasty, and Howell raised eyebrows last week when she blamed the senator for the terrorist deaths of 17 sailors aboard the USS Cole in Yemen.

It was a cheap shot, conceded one state GOP official who was surprised that Howell had resorted to such a tactic.

Mark White of the state Democratic Party said: These candidates just don't pass the laugh test. Kennedy has the right priorities here - attending to his Senate duties and with the few days left campaigning around the state.

Robinson, a telecommunications executive who has never before run for major office, promptly issued a challenge to Kennedy last night, offering to donate $2,500 of his own money to the charity of Kennedy's choice if the senator would reconsider, and debate him.

If he rejects that offer, the citizens of Massachusetts should reject him, said Robinson, who wants to debate Kennedy tomorrow. Kennedy should be thrown out of office on that basis alone.

Asked in September if he would debate, Kennedy told reporters: I'm now busy debating (Senate Majority Leader) Trent Lott.

In reality, the Senate has been on cruise control for several weeks as the GOP leadership tussles with Democrats over major spending bills.

Keyser said even if the Senate closes down earlier than expected, Kennedy won't waver on his decision.

We stand with our decision, said Keyser. It is unclear, even at this juncture, when the Senate will actually complete its business this year.

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