The Other Debates
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Senator Schumer’s agreement to two hour-long three-way debates with his opponents in the race for Senate is welcome, coming as it does after weeks of delay from Mr. Schumer. One of his aides had attributed the delay in reaching an agreement to the fact that “The Senate is still in session.” But somehow his colleagues in the minority in the upper chamber, Messrs. Kerry and Edwards, have already managed to find time to debate their opponents in the race for president and vice president.
Shrinking from a meeting with his opponents was all the more dramatic for Mr. Schumer, given that six years ago he was plumping for 10 debates. Back then, Mr. Schumer’s opponent was an incumbent senator and Mr. Schumer himself was serving in the House of Representatives. So New Yorkers were having a hard time believing Mr. Schumer when he put out that his hesitation this time around was owing to his commitment to his job in government.
Certainly the senator – we know from experience – is a fairly good debater. This, combined with his campaign war chest and name recognition, mean that Mr. Schumer could probably show up for the debate speaking only in pig Latin and still win the election against his opponents in what is, after all, a state in which Democrats far outnumber Republicans. The Republican candidate in the race, Assemblyman Howard Mills, has emphasized a set of policy ideas – like tax cuts that phase out for the rich and subsidies for ethanol – that aren’t exactly growth oriented. The Conservative Party candidate, Marilyn O’Grady, has emphasized her opposition to civil unions for gays, which is not exactly calculated to get out the vote.
Our own reason for plugging for debates has little to do with expectations that Mr. Mills or Dr. O’Grady will score an upset over the Sage of Park Slope, a neighborhood for which we have a warm spot. But watching Mr. Mills or Dr. O’Grady grapple with Mr. Schumer might at least embarrass the Republican and small-c conservative leaders in this state into building the party at the grassroots so that the next time a Democratic senator is up for re-election, the debates will actually matter to the outcome of the vote.
