When candidates avoid debates, voters question the transparency, trust, and authenticity of the candidates – By Salena Zito (The Washington Examiner) / Sept 4, 2022
CHARLESTON, Illinois — Just off U.S. 36, in a drive home across the country that began in Colorado heading toward the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line, a slight diversion off of Illinois state route 130 led me to one of the sites where Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated.
The year was 1858. Douglas was a powerful and popular incumbent Democratic senator, and Lincoln was the brand new Republican Party’s candidate challenging him for the seat. Their three-hour events were covered by reporters across the country and attended by over 100,000 people in total. While Douglas ultimately retained his seat, it was Lincoln and his stances on slavery that propelled him to the presidency two years later.
The newspaper of note at the time, the Illinois State Journal, had a headline that read: “Lincoln tomahawks his antagonist with the Tombs Bill; Create Route of the Douglasites in the Seventh District.”
Since that time, election debates and press access to candidates have become two of the most important ways voters are able to judge candidates.
