Thursday, July 17, 2008
Kilroy vs. Stivers Has A Third Wheel
Three candidates, three debates. But it’s not clear how many candidates will be at each. The congressional race in the 15th Congressional District between Republican Steve Stivers and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy has a third wheel in Independent candidate Don Elijah Eckhart.
Both the Kilroy and Stivers campaigns say they will participate in three debates hosted by local Chambers of Commerce, WOSU, and the AARP. The question is, how many will Eckhart take part in? Kilroy’s campaign wants him at all in hopes that he will siphon off some of the conservative votes from Stivers. On the abortion issue Eckhart is pro-life whereas Stivers is pro-choice, like Kilroy. But Kilroy campaign communications director Brad Bauman says Eckhart’s inclusion is not a prerequisite to their participation. Stivers’ campaign manager Mike Hartley says it’s up to each host to decide whether Eckhart is included. Many of the details are still to be worked out in the three debates.
Bauman was bursting at the seems to offer up this quote over the phone. “We cannot wait to debate Stivers on the economy,” Bauman said. “We would love to hear him defend his record.” He says Stivers is partially to blame for the mortgage crisis based on his past involvement as a banking lobbyist. They plan to tie him to the downturn via corporate deregulation on the state and local level. Stivers’ campaign, which rarely mentions Kilroy in its own press releases, is working to keep some of the back-and-forth criticism out of the race. Hartley offered this subdued response: “We welcome Kilroy to agreeing to join us at these debates which will cover a wide range of issues important to the voters of the 15th Congressional District.”
