Perry, Hutchison to face off Jan. 29 in debate hosted by Dallas Morning News, Belo
12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, January 13, 2010
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
choppe@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN – Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison have agreed to a second debate, to be held Jan. 29 in Dallas.
The hourlong debate between the two leading Republican candidates for governor will be hosted by The Dallas Morning News and Belo Corp., which owns 20 television stations, including Dallas' WFAA-TV (Channel 8), KHOU-TV in Houston, KENS-TV in San Antonio and KVUE-TV in Austin.
The debate will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on those stations.
The format will include questions from a panel of reporters, as well as some from citizens. The candidates will also be asked to address each other's political advertising and discuss issues one-on-one.
Candidate Debra Medina, who has polled between 4 and 7 percent support among likely Republican voters in recent polls, did not meet the criteria to be included in the debate, including poll standing, substantial fundraising success, votes gained in previous campaigns and other factors.
Medina campaign manager Penny Langford Freeman said that she was disappointed with the decision, but that "they're an independent news station; they can do that if they want."
The campaign, which has fed on support from Tea Party followers, had loudly protested the decision by KERA-TV (Channel 13), Dallas' public-broadcasting station, to exclude Medina from the first debate, which is Thursday at the University of North Texas. The candidate argued that as an entity that operates with taxpayer support, the station had an obligation to include all credible candidates. KERA eventually agreed, and Medina will be included in that debate.
Belo and The News adopted the criteria set by the federal presidential debate committees, in which candidates must have attained 15 percent support in polls to be included.
Freeman said that she does not believe there has been accurate, independent polling to reflect Medina's support.
"We're not real happy that we're excluded, but that's their right to set
Friday, January 15, 2010
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