Campaign 2012

Montana Broadcasters cancel Senate candidate debate

Posted: Jun 21, 2012 7:40 AM by David Sherman - MTN News
Updated: Jun 21, 2012 7:40 AM

The scheduled debate on Sunday between the three Montana candidates for U.S. Senate has been canceled. The decision was made Wednesday by the board of directors of the Montana Broadcasters Association.

The debate was scheduled for Sunday, June 24th, in Whitefish at the annual convention of the Montana Broadcasters Assocation.

The three candidates are Dan Cox of the Libertarian Party; U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R-MT); and incumbent U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT).

The Rehberg campaign told the Montana Broadcasters Association last week they had not received a formal invitation to the Whitefish event. The Tester campaign confirmed they have had the debate on their schedule for months.

The MBA claims they had contacted the Rehberg campaign several times regarding the proposed debate.

The Tester campaign criticized Rehberg and said, "In Montana, your word is your bond, and a handshake is a contract."

The Rehberg campaign said, "We're disappointed that the MBA wasn't able to make this weekend's event work, but we will continue working with individual Montana broadcasters to put together a robust debate schedule."

Here is the full text of the MBA statement:

The Montana Broadcasters Association Senatorial debate originally scheduled for this coming Sunday morning, June 24th, has reluctantly been cancelled.

The goal of the Montana Broadcasters is to provide the opportunity for all citizens, no matter where they live in our state, an opportunity to watch or listen to the candidates for United States Senate discuss the issues that face every community.

Due to scheduling complications that could not be resolved we are unable to have all three candidates present on Sunday so the Board of Directors of the MBA elected to make this decision.

We will continue to look for other opportunities to provide discussion about issues facing our state and country.