On Tuesday, Coakley won the Democratic nomination and state Senator Scott Brown won the Republican nomination.
Kennedy, who is no relation to the famed political family, is a Libertarian who launched an independent bid for US Senate. He is the only candidate not in a major party who turned in the 10,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot.
Coakley said there have been requests made for eight debates, and her campaign is considering them now. When asked whether she would refuse to debate unless Kennedy was included, she said, "We haven't gotten to that yet."
"I'm a Democrat, we live in a democracy, and this is one of the treasures that we have," she said."If people can get the votes and get the support, they're allowed to get their message out to voters. ... He has done what Massachusetts says he needs to to be on the ballot here. In that sense he puts himself out as a candidate.''
As the article also points out, politically it could really help her to demand Kennedy be included in the debates:
Having a three-way debate would help Coakley, the front-runner in the race, and would make it harder for Brown to clearly differentiate himself from Coakley. As a libertarian, Kennedy is also more likely to pull votes from Brown than he is from Coakley, so giving him broad exposure on a televised debate could hurt Brown's chances.
Hence the post title, if she really means what she's stated? It's inspiring to see a Democratic candidate not afraid of debates and to include third party candidates.
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