Dallas, PA – After weeks of stonewalling debate discussions, there is some hope that Congressman Chris Carney might be changing his mind on the need to present his views and his record to the voters.  Under increasing public pressure following Chris Hackett’s debate challenge earlier this week, Carney has now agreed to have his campaign meet with WNEP TV officials regarding scheduling one debate in October.  Carney has not yet agreed to have a debate hosted by WNEP, but representatives from both the Hackett and Carney campaigns will meet sometime during the week of July 14^th to discuss further details with WNEP.

Challenger Chris Hackett commented, “I’m glad Chris Carney has finally agreed to discuss another TV debate.  Really, this should not be a difficult thing.  We’ve invited him to join us in eight debates over the course of the next four months.  There’s no reason to wait until late October to have debates.  Is the congressman really too busy to devote just eight hours of his time to presenting his views to the people of our district?”

Hackett campaign spokesman Mark Harris said, “It’s nice to see that in the course of one week, Carney has shifted his position from zero debates to one debate, and now he’s willing to discuss a second debate.  Hopefully, by next week, he will agree to all eight debates, and we can get about the business of letting the voters see the clear differences between the candidates.  Carney appears to prefer a campaign of personal attacks instead of a campaign of open and honest debates, but we’ll keep pushing to get him to change his mind again.”

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