FOXNews.com: Campaigns scramble to re-schedule final Brown-Warren debate, as poll shows tie

FOXNews.com FOX News Network - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Campaigns scramble to re-schedule final Brown-Warren debate, as poll shows tie Oct 30th 2012, 16:48 The campaign of Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown said Tuesday officials are working on rescheduling a final debate with Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, with a new poll showing the race deadlocked with seven days remaining. The final debate, scheduled for Tuesday, was canceled because of superstorm Sandy, leaving the candidates without a final opportunity for a face-to-face discussion about campaign issues amid undecided voters. A Boston Globe poll released Monday shows the candidates tied at 47 percent, following the paper's September poll in which Brown trailed by 5 percentage points. The Warren campaign Tuesday afternoon suggested no debate would happen until after Wednesday. "Our focus over the next 48 hours must be on public safety and holding the utilities accountable for restoring power as soon as possible," said Warren campaign manager Mindy Myers. "Elizabeth believes that the final televised debate should occur, and we have contacted the debate organizers and let them know she would be available to participate on Thursday evening." The race has been one of most expensive and compelling of the 2012 election cycle, with Republicans trying to gain four Senate seats to take control of the chamber. Brown is seeking re-election after his surprising victory in 2010 in the special election for the open seat of Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy. Warren has faced accusations of trying to use her American Indian heritage to get a teaching job at Harvard Law School, while Brown tries to win a second term in a strongly Democratic state. Warren said that her parents told her growing up that her mother was part Cherokee and part Delaware Indian and that as a child she never questioned that story. Both candidates postponed campaigning Monday. Brown said he was working to make sure the state received any federal help needed while Warren closed all her field offices and asked her staff and volunteers to be ready to assist if needed. Late Monday, Brown announced he wouldn't be attending Tuesday's fourth and final debate, sponsored by a consortium of Boston media outlets. A Brown spokesman said the senator decided against the debate "out of concern for the hardship faced by people in the path of Hurricane Sandy." "It is simply not appropriate to go forward with a political debate when a disaster strikes. The focus for all of us before, during and after the storm needs to be on emergency response and disaster relief, not campaigns and politics," spokesman Colin Reed said in a statement.  Brown said he would "certainly" participate in another debate before voters go to the polls next week.  "If it's appropriate, we will have it," he said. "Certainly we're going to do it. I think the people will want to hear where we stand on all the final issues ... before the election." Brown last week even offered Warren a lift to the debate should Sandy have created tough driving conditions. "That's why I have a truck," he said. Myers said Warren also agreed the debate should not have been held Tuesday. The full force of the storm largely spared Massachusetts. An averaging of polls by the website RealClearPolitics has Warren leading by 3.7 percentage points. The Boston Globe poll included voters who are undecided, but said which candidate they are leaning toward supporting. Among the poll's likely voters, Brown received 45 percent, compared with 43 percent for Warren, well within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The poll of 583 likely voters was conducted from Wednesday through Sunday by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions