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Abercrombie Refuses to Debate Aiona

Neil Abercrombie, Democratic candidate for governor, has flat-out refused to debate Duke Aiona, the Republican candidate and present lieutenant governor.

Referring to Aiona's lack of participation in the primary election debates, Abercrombie said, "It's not my job to make up for the time he's missed. That's not my fault." — West Hawaii Today

Duke Aiona

Abercrombie, an excellent speaker, seems to feel that he will not gain from any debates with Aiona. Last time around, in 2008, he said he would be willing to debate his Republican opponent for Congress Steve Tataii, but in reality ducked him. Possibly the consequences of the debate would have been devastating to Neil and he knew it.

Having successfully avoided a debate for his last election and still been elected into Congress, this time Abercrombie is being up front with not only Aiona but the citizens of Hawaii in stating that he's not going to debate the lieutenant governor.

Voters would almost certainly benefit from seeing what the candidates have to say on the following subjects which Aiona proposed for the following dates, but informed voters are obviously not at the top of Neil's priorities.

Friday, September 24
Jobs and the Economy

Week of September 27
Education

Week of October 4
State Budget and Spending

Week of October 11
Native Hawaiian Issues

Week of October 18
Health and Human Services

Week of October 25
Energy

Apparently Abercrombie feels that informed voters wouldn't work in his favor?