Like many others who may be paying only partial attention to Maine’s gubernatorial campaign, I find myself wishing the candidates would have an open dialogue with each other. Enough of pleasing sound bites and one-sided presentations.

The reason we are not hearing dialogue and civil debate between the candidates is that no debates are scheduled until late October. Both the Republican and Democratic candidates have declined independent Eliot Cutler’s proposal for frequent debates throughout Maine before then.

I suppose it would be okay to wait as long as we reserved final judgment until after the debates. But early voting in Maine begins Sept. 30, and some campaigns are strongly encouraging people to vote early. Why? Perhaps they don’t want people to be influenced by the debates.

Voting before the debates would be a mistake and harmful to the state of Maine. So let’s be patient and hold off on premature voting and then pick the person best suited for the job after watching real head-to-head debates.

Malcolm Rogers

Scarborough


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