Clinton Undecided on April 19 Debate

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, once so eager to debate she ran two ads questioning why her rival wouldn't, has yet to say whether she'll debate Sen. Barack Obama in North Carolina next month.

Both presidential candidates plan to participate in an ABC News debate on April 16 in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania holds it primary days later, on April 22. Obama also has agreed to a debate April 19 hosted by CBS in North Carolina. North Carolina holds its primary May 6.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said Monday that the campaign has not made a decision about the CBS debate and is still working through the details.

"I am quite confident that there will be additional debates and that we will work with networks and the Obama campaign to figure out the appropriate location and venue and media outlet," Wolfson told reporters on a conference call.

Clinton ran a statewide television ad in Wisconsin prior to its Feb. 19 primary challenging Obama to debate there as she struggled to regain momentum after his string of victories in February.

The Clinton ad said, "Barack Obama still won't agree to debate in Wisconsin. ... Why won't Barack Obama debate these differences? Wisconsin deserves better."

The contenders have debated 20 times during the presidential campaign. Their last meetings were in Texas on Feb. 21 and Ohio on Feb. 26 ahead of those states' primaries on March 4. Clinton won both contests.

Comments

[DavidK08]

Notice also that she will release her tax returns after the PA debate, but before the vote. Now we are getting to the skeletons. Now she flip-flops. Again.

[nochickenhawk]

Oh, I didn't see that. Now she is refusing to release her tax returns before PA?

[naschkatze]

Well there you are. If she now says she will release the tax returns after but not before Pennsylvania, that means she would not want a pre North Carolina debate because she would be asked then, "And now, pray, why haven't you released your tax returns AFTER Pennsylvania?".

[ModerateLefty]

Seems to me this is a non-story. When they reply "no, we won't debate" then it will be.

[JohnTalbutt]

But they will never say that. Here in New York, her campaign's standard response when they didn't want to debate was "we're working out the details".

[DocTwain]

Why is HuffPo reducing my whole post to just one line? I've tried twice!

[SARGE1]

20 Debates Please Can We Please Stop !!

[loria]

Who cares about another debate, except that this was such an issue for Hillary. She even had a commercial about Obama because he didn't want a debate every week. Remember that? It was only a few weeks ago. Now who is avoiding the debate?

[rojo7449]

So, "her eyes were bigger than her stomach" on the idea. We, the People, are pretty tired of them, too. It would be different if the moderators could come up with something of substance for them to debate.

[DocTwain]

These primary candidates are pathetic.

[robbor]

enough already, let's have the election NOW

[DavidAF]

Hillary doesn't want to debate again because of the lies she has made about Bosnia and other so-called "under fire adventures". She won't go because she will be slaughtered!

[rojo7449]

If those petty topics are going to be part of a serious debate, then who can blame any of us for not wanting them to happen? I think they've covered the same topics enough already. I sure don't trust Katie Couric to come up with a list of substantial topics for them to debate.

[c1ee]

It sure was petty until Hillary made a bold faced lie and made a huge deal out of it, and got caught red-handed. Now it is no longer petty. It has become a credibility issue. If you're a manager interviewing people and you find out one of them has flat out lied to try and shore up their resume, vast majority of managers won't think twice about disqualifying them. In fact, most of them will put the candidate's name into a blacklist, and share that blacklist with their friends to warn them about these duplicitous phonies.

[beright]

Yup

[confuciussay]

Is Obama going to be able to debate with her by outlining his limited experiences or will he just criticize her experiences?

[pupbayer]

Does Obama even know where Bosnia is?

[robbor]

greenspan.­..NO WAY!! that man is extremely responsible for the financial state of this country. in office he said nary a word but once having left his government position he's full of warnings and advice. where was he when he was the head of the fed? i'll tell you., out to lunch

[Jey]

It seems as though all the media wants to do is tear down each person. Why can't we debate the issues like the Iraq War, the economy, healthcare, education, environment, our infrastructure. At this point I feel sorry for all three of them. Even though I support Obama, I've forgotten what Hillary or McCain stands for. That's sad people. We need to write each of the networks to let them know were sick of the hate mongering. You should have heard Rush Limbaugh today. I never, ever listen to him but I was driving a rental today and the station was on Rush. He's not right now. He hates everyone - even republicons. He needs some serious help. Those drugs he was on really strung him out. He was talking about all people in the democratic party are corrupt. I didn't know if it was meant as a joke or not. I just chuckled to myself. But then he kept on and on and on. Surely the people with any intellectual stimulation at all does not listen to him. I cannot imagine any smart republicon, independent or democrat listening to that. Let's quick with the hate and debate the real issues.

[PingMama]

She'll be preparing for the legal deposition she has to give in California on April 25th.

[Purple Girl]

WE've heard enough- Let's Vote for Pres and get this Admin OUT by July 4th 2008!

[rubicon101]

brilliant

[rubicon101]

what a shame, what did you really do with the money your parents gave you for education

[jedley]

note to moderators: comments interface not working! seems it's taking only first line and dumping rest

[jedley]

WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING CLINTON WON TEXAS?!?!?!?

[Isaiah40j]

I don't know why they keep saying that ......but for the record Obama won Texas!

[debwarot]

Apparently they either truly do not understand 'Texas Two Step' (primary and caucus) or they simply cannot count!

[clbrune]

Because she won the popular vote.

[DavidK08]

And all this time I thought it was about delegates.

[loria]

She didn't win the delegates and that's what counts. What she did do is make sure that the caucus results weren't reported right away, which enabled her to act as if she won TX when she didn't. The popular vote counted for the primary but the delegate count is what wins.

[keir]

Popular vote does not matter...i­ts the delegates. And those Obama won.

[beright]

Only if you count the some odd 24 percent that crossed party lines (as per Rush) just to vote her in.

[HeadScratcher]

Hillary won by 100,000 votes. 119,000 votes for her came from Republican crossovers

[txn4hillary]

Because she did win Texas...in the popular vote. In the general election, you don't get to vote twice. And in the general election, you get the chance to vote early and you have all day to vote on election day. So for those that can't alter their work schedules, those that can't stand in line (i.e., elderly and sick), their votes do get counted.

[JonStewart4President]

Hillary go back on her previous word or so-called beliefs? Like say, the MI and FL votes? Gee, shocking.

[bjorn]

Come on Huffpost..­.has Hillary said NO? Cool your jets....th­is is so not a story!

[SCG]

I really couldn't careless if she does or doesn't. Obama should pose a debate in public to McCain and by pass the Clinton soap opera.

[jorydozier]

Now thats a good idea. Obama should start acting like the presumptive nominee.

[clbrune]

yeah. This is Huffpost. I'm surprised the headline isn't "Clinton conceals debate response."

[loria]

Considering her whinning about Barack not debating her every week in Feb., this is an issue of hypocrisy (remember the ad - he won't debate, what is he afraid of). She gets what she gives.