Port: North Dakota candidates agree to Plain Talk debates
Published by the Dickinson Press | August 19, 2024
MINOT — As we barrel toward the general election vote in November, I am pleased to announce that my co-host Chad Oban and I will be moderating a series of debates on our Plain Talk podcast between our state's top-of-the-ticket candidates.
They will begin this week. Here's the schedule:
Friday, Aug. 23: U.S. Senate debate between incumbent Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican, and challenger Katrina Christiansen, a Democrat.
Friday, Aug. 30: U.S. House debate between Republican candidate Julie Fedorchak and Democratic candidate Trygve Hammer.
Friday, Sept. 3: Gubernatorial debate between Republican candidate Kelly Armstrong and Democratic candidate Merrill Piepkorn.
Friday, Sept. 13: Measure 4 property tax debate between a supporter, former Fargo city commissioner Tony Gehrig, and an opponent, longtime Republican activist Bob Harms.
The episodes will be released on our normal schedule for Friday shows, meaning they will be published by about noon on the same day we record the debates.
You can subscribe to the Plain Talk podcast by searching for it on any of the popular podcasting platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or you can click here for more information. The episodes will also be posted in this column and on YouTube if you prefer listening that way.
Our approach to these debates is to make them conversational — informal, even. So often, media-sponsored debates get bogged down in rules and posturing and become shouting competitions, with the candidates talking over one another. Our goal is to get the candidates talking — to us and to each other — so that, hopefully, we can reveal something authentic about themselves and how they would approach the offices to which they hope to be elected.
A note on the Measure 4 debate, I did attempt to book former state lawmaker Rick Becker to make the case for the measure. He is the chairman of the committee that sponsored the measure and the proposal's most vocal advocate, but when I contacted him about the debate, he refused.
He has publicly mentioned several times that he would debate Measure 4 with "anyone" on "any program." He used those words again when I contacted him to schedule a debate on Plain Talk but added a caveat, saying the one place he would not debate is on our show.
That's too bad. Becker has participated in a debate on Plain Talk before as a candidate for elected office and had no complaints at the time.
I chose Gehrig as a replacement because of his experience as a former talk radio host and local government official.
That wrinkle aside, we hope this series of debates proves illuminating and useful for North Dakota voters as they weigh their options heading into November.
— Opinion by Rob Port