WASHINGTON — “That’s a lie. You know that’s a lie. I never said it.”
That was Republican Linda McMahon going after Democrat Richard Blumenthal this week as the Connecticut Senate rivals shared a debate stage. Afterward, he insisted she was the one playing “fast and loose with the facts.”
Across the country, in California, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman pointedly blamed Democrat Jerry Brown for the disclosure that she had employed an illegal immigrant housekeeper. He shot back: “You have blamed her, blamed me, blamed the left, blamed the unions. But you don’t take accountability.”
Candidates have been slinging mud from afar for months, their insults filling TV ads and peppering speeches. Now, in the campaign’s final weeks, they are meeting up close in debate — in many cases for the only time — and getting right in each other’s faces.
In the run-up to Nov. 2, dozens of House, Senate and gubernatorial debates are scheduled in hotly contested races in places such as Colorado, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Florida, Wisconsin and Illinois.
The face-offs can offer some of the only unscripted moments in the campaign.
This close to Election Day, the in-person confrontations can change the trajectory of a race — or lock it in place. Republicans and Democrats alike say that dramatically altering the course is difficult after a final debate.
Rewards can be sweet for candidates who exceed expectations or who benefit from opponents’ poor performances. But risks are enormous, too, particularly in the Internet age. Make a major gaffe, and it can go viral or become fodder for attack ads in the final days.
In this year’s Alabama gubernatorial race, Democrat Ron Sparks just rolled out an ad showing Republican opponent Robert Bentley during a recent candidate forum saying: “Not every child is going to college, and not every child is supposed to go to college.”
The two had been debating a plan to use state lottery revenue to pay for scholarships.
Said Bentley later: “Sometimes in a forum as you are speaking, sometimes things may come out different than the way you want them to come out.”
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, in her only debate against Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard last month, lost her train of thought and endured about 15 seconds of painful silence. She also was put on the defensive when Goddard challenged her on an incorrect comment that headless bodies were turning up in the Arizona desert.
But, even though it was splashed over the Internet, the episode didn’t seem to damage her. She has, however, refused to debate Goddard again, content to sit on her double-digit lead in a state that gives her high marks for supporting an illegal-immigration crackdown.
