Porter pulls out of two debates

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., has pulled out of two televised debates with congressional candidate Tom Gallagher that were scheduled to take place next week.

Porter's staff long ago committed the congressman to debates on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE and with KVBC Channel 3, but those commitments were "done so in error," according to Porter campaign consultant Mike Slanker.

Slanker said in a written statement that the Porter campaign had already made a commitment to public television station KLVX Channel 10 that it could host the first televised debate for Nevada's 3rd Congressional District.

The KLVX debate will air Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. Early voting begins Friday.

Porter's staff apparently "neglected to consider" this prior obligation when later committing to the other two stations, Slanker said.

Porter this morning said he had "postponed" but not canceled the debates with Las Vegas ONE and Channel 3 until after the agreed-upon debate on KLVX had aired.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee unleashed new television ads against Porter today in response to the National Republican Congressional Committee's ads attacking Gallagher as a political opportunist.

Gallagher's campaign officials recently said the Porter ads had hurt their candidate's standing in the polls, but said the numbers will change once voters see the response ads.

Mara Gassmann, a spokeswoman for Gallagher, blasted Porter's ads as a "smear campaign."

"We've been putting up ads that have been focused on issues and on votes," Gassmann said. "He (Porter)'s launched a smear campaign and it's untrue."

Gassmann said the Democratic candidate's new ads criticize the competition for being "beholden to party leadership in Washington."