ANDREWS ACCEPTS ABC-TV SENATE DEBATE
LAUTENBERG HAS NO EXCUSE TO SAY NO
Democrats Must Nominate Most Electable Candidate
Lautenberg's Failure to Debate a Clear Sign of Weakness for November

CHERRY HILL -- Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rob Andrews said today he was delighted that the ABC-TV network affiliates in New York and Philadelphia would co-sponsor a debate before the June 3 primary and said that his opponent, incumbent Frank Lautenberg, has no excuse this time to not show up. Andrews said that Lautenberg's refusal to accept this debate, as he has declined so many others, would clearly show that he was not up to the challenge of defeating the Republican candidate in the fall campaign.

If Sen. Lautenberg sincerely believes he can withstand the physical and intellectual rigors of what will be a very competitive general election campaign, he will come out of hiding and show he has what it takes to be reelected," Andrews said. "If he can't go one-on-one with someone in his own party – before the largest possible TV audience, how in the world is he going to defend himself and our party against the Republican attack machine this fall?"

The proposed debate is being co-sponsored by WABC-TV (New York) and WPVI-TV (Philadelphia) under a format established by the League of Women Voters of New Jersey. The candidates have until next Friday to respond. Congressman Andrews immediately accepted.

Andrews noted that more than half of the voters in New Jersey have said that Sen. Lautenberg, who, if reelected, would be 91 years old at the end of his next term, had been in office long enough and should step aside. When Lautenberg first ran in 1982, he charged that his Republican opponent, then 74, was too old to seek reelection.

"A clear majority of voters, a sizable number of them Democrats, have serious misgivings about Sen. Lautenberg's ability to serve another term," Andrews said. "That is very troubling news for our party because it is imperative that we keep that Senate seat in Democratic hands. To accomplish that, we need to nominate the person with the best chance of winning the general election."

The ability to articulate a coherent message and familiarity with the issues in a debate is a critical test of a candidate's abilities, Andrews said. And Lautenberg, he noted, has refused all but one of the multiple invitations to debate on television. He agreed only to one on public television, which has limited statewide exposure. And that will be aired late on a Friday night at the start of the Memorial Day weekend, only three days before the primary.

Lautenberg has issued numerous excuses for refusing all the other debates, some having to do with timing and scheduling. But the proposed ABC debate fits right into the senator's schedule since it would be taped on the very same afternoon (May 30), in the very same city (Trenton), of the NJN debate.

"Sen. Lautenberg has run out of any more excuses to hide from the Democratic voters in New Jersey," Andrews said. "I can't imagine what kind of story his handlers can dream up this time to keep him from facing the public. In 1982, Frank Lautenberg accused Millicent Fenwick of dodging him and the voters for accepting five of the 21 debates he said the voters were entitled to. In 2008, Frank Lautenberg seems to think it's beneath him to accept even one."

###