Bob Statchen, the Democratic candidate for the 18th Senatorial District (my District) has a letterin today’s New London Day in which he wonders why it is that Heather Somers, the incumbent Senator, has failed to respond to his own, and third party, requests that she debate him. He suggests a variety of reasons for her reluctance:
Possibly Senator Somers’ strategy is to rely on her built-in name recognition as an incumbent and reduce exposure for a challenger. Possibly Senator Somers has not developed a coherent economic policy which she is ready to discuss. Possibly Senator Somers is not prepared to defend her legislative record from the past two years. Whatever the case, the people in this district deserve better. I urge newspapers, community organizations and individual citizens to encourage Senator Somers to engage in the democratic process and give voters the ability to make an informed choice.
All good explanations, but let me suggest another. Heather is much more comfortable in front of single issue audiences, where she can tell the people what they want to hear. That way she can go to the folks on the other side of the issue, and tell them what theywant to hear, with no one on the other side the wiser. She’s largely gotten away with this sort of thing, but not always. I understand she actually tried to snooker the people at Rise Up Mystic, but they weren’t having it from the woman who said, in 2016, that it really didn’t matter who got elected president as the decision in the 18th Connecticut Senatorial District was far more important, but if she really had to say then she had to allow as she’d be voting for the stable genius because while she didn’t like what he said, she didn’t like what Hillary had done, the exact nature of those evil deeds going unstated, of course. She also takes care to try to stay safely on both sides of an issue on which she’s voted. She was for banning bump stocks, but, sadly, her amendment that would have rendered the ban meaningless was voted down, so she had no choice but to vote against banning them.
In a debate, you’re more or less forced to take a firm position on things in front of a diverse audience, and Heather doesn’t like to do that. She’s even more uncomfortable defending herself now, because she has cast votes (e.g., her pro bump stock vote) that are hard to defend anywhere except in the fever swamp of the far right voters she can’t afford to offend.
In a way, it’s hard for to understand her reluctance, because the New London Day, which ordinarily supplies the questioners for these debates, has treated her with kid gloves throughout her political career. But talking out of both sides of her mouth has worked well for her, so my guess is that unless forced by circumstances, she’ll avoid any forum in which she has to take a firm position on anything.
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