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"There is growing talk about which candidates should be included in Maine's gubernatorial and Congressional debates.On Thursday afternoon, Democratic Emily Cain and Independent Blaine Richardson stood together in Augusta to demand that Republican Bruce Poliquin agree to attend debates that include all three candidates in the race for Maine's Second Congressional District seat.\"The issues need to be represented on all sides. That's the only way you have a full debate, and I hope that's what will happen in all of the elections,\" said Cain.Cain and Richardson said Poliquin is refusing to attend debates that include the independent candidate, but a Poliquin campaign spokesperson said that isn't true and they are still discussing which debates to attend.Richardson has run as a Republican in the past. This year, Republican party officials are downplaying his legitimacy.\"Being a competitor in an election is about a lot more than running around and getting signatures. It's about getting your message out and about raising money, and Blaine really has not done any of the rest of the work to make himself a serious candidate,\" said Jason Savage with the Maine Republican Party.While Cain is fighting for the inclusion of an independent candidate, Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud is working to minimize the legitimacy of independent Eliot Cutler in the race for governor.\"We're running against Gov. LePage. He's the incumbent. It's absolutely ridiculous to think we would debate without him,\" said Michaud campaign spokeswoman Lizzy Reinholt.The Michaud campaign does not want Michaud to take part in any debates that do not include Gov. Paul LePage.\"If you're firm in your beliefs, if you know what you stand for, and if you have a plan to move this state forward, it should be easy,\" said Cutler campaign spokeswoman Crystal Canney.University of Southern Maine political science professor Ron Schmidt said these debate strategies are nothing new.\"You want to play to your strengths, you want to keep your message as clear and unified as possible, and you don't want to give air time to people who might be able to eat into that,\" said Schmidt.However, all of the different ways a candidate can get his or her message to voters means it is harder to keep them in obscurity.\"The backfiring of attempting to narrow the playing field is always a gamble, but it seems to be that it's becoming a more serious one as time goes on,\" said Schmidt.All three gubernatorial candidates have told WMTW News 8 they plan to attend a debate we are hosting in October.WMTW News 8 is also holding a debate for the 2nd Congressional District. WMTW News 8 is still determining whether Richardson meets our criteria for inclusion."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wmtw.com/article/campaigns-taking-different-debate-strategies/2003768>