Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

This is the first federal election I can vote in. I’ve spent the summer home in Clarkstown, working and pestering my friends to register before we all head back to college. People my age hear over and over that we don’t show up. Fine. I’m showing up. And the one thing I wanted before casting my first vote is the one thing I can’t seem to get: Mike Lawler and Cait Conley on the same stage, answering the same questions.

Growing up, we learned about the Lincoln-Douglas debates: seven of them, three hours apiece, with crowds of thousands standing outside to hear every word. Then came Kennedy and Nixon in 1960 and the first presidential debate broadcast live on television. The point was always the same: debates give voters a chance to size up the people asking to represent them, side by side and without campaign ads or carefully edited clips doing the talking for them.

Mike Lawler challenged Cait Conley to six televised debates the night she won her primary in June. He has accepted four, including two on national television. Her campaign said no to Meet the Press, no to State of the Union, and so far yes to nothing at all.

The part I honestly can’t get my head around is that a Democrat turned down NBC and CNN. Those are supposed to be the two friendliest rooms in television for her party. If she won’t take questions there, where will she take them?

I’ll be back at college in Washington, D.C., before any of this could air. That part is easy; dorm Wi-Fi reaches NBC. But my absentee ballot will arrive on campus weeks before Election Day, and I’d like to cast my first federal vote after actually seeing both candidates answer the same questions in the same room.

I’m doing my part by paying attention and voting. The least Cait Conley can do is show up.

Regards,

River Francella

Bardonia