EDITORIAL: Walker should back up his words by debating Warnock

Politics being what it is today, perhaps it should come as no surprise that the latest polls show Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a dead heat with his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, in their senatorial race.

That being the case, the logic of the circumstance dictates a series of debates. Which should be, given the candidates’ campaign promises, just a matter of time and place.

Instead, Georgians are left to consider a frustrating a soap operalike game of will-he, won’t-he subterfuge as Walker, who boldly proclaimed early in the campaign that he would gladly meet Warnock “any time, any place,” apparently can find neither time nor place on his busy schedule to keep that promise.

The candidates are scheduled right now to meet in a single debate, on Oct. 14 in Savannah, in a confrontation whose rules Walker set up. But the Republican challenger, who has kept media from most of his campaign stops, has steadfastly refused Warnock’s invitation for additional debates at Mercer University in Macon and at the Atlanta Press Club.

“This conversation shouldn’t be this difficult,” Warnock said. “(Walker) said he would debate me ‘any time, any place.’ Those weren’t my words. Those were his words. If we can’t count on you to do what you said you would do with respect to a debate, how can we trust your word on anything else you promise?

“Georgians deserve to have multiple opportunities (to compare the opposing candidates). The question of this election is who is really ready to represent the people of Georgia at this critical moment? It’s basic to our democracy that the people would hear debates, and I hope that my opponent will not deprive the people of Georgia of an opportunity — in multiple locations — to hear why he thinks he’s ready.”

Even with such a gauntlet thrown his way, Walker still refuses to commit to a debate other than the one in Savannah.

“Someone had to put an end to Herschel Walker’s games, and today Rev. Warnock showed again why he is the best person for the job, agreeing to Walker’s preferred debate so Georgians would have at least one opportunity to see the clear choice they have in this election,” Quentin Fulks, the Warnock for Georgia campaign manager, said recently. “Rev. Warnock is eager to speak to Georgians about his work on their behalf and remains hopeful Herschel Walker will do right by Georgians, get on a debate stage at least one other time in either Macon or Atlanta, and explain his positions to them. If Herschel Walker can’t do that, he isn’t ready for the job of U.S. Senator.”

It has become apparent from his team’s strategy of keeping Walker from the public’s eye and away from media representatives, that they are counting on the former University of Georgia football player’s popularity in the state to carry him in this vitally important campaign. After all, they must be reasoning, it worked for him in the primary.

But with so much at stake, only the most partisan among Georgia’s almost equally divided voting populace can believe that decades-ago football glory qualifies an individual to hold one of the nation’s highest offices. Herschel Walker should be a man of his word and meet Raphael Warnock on the filed of battle, man-to-man. Given the damaging information his team is troubleshooting on an almost daily basis, it would seem that a debate would be Walker’s one shot at a proving ground.

Claiming that he “never runs from a fight” and then doing exactly that certainly doesn’t help his cause, at least not when it comes to his legitimacy as a candidate.

— The Albany Herald Editorial Board