Elephant Walk

Debating the debate

by Seth Gitell

BOSTON CHICKEN: Bush is too scared to debate here.

How bad have things gotten for Republicans in Massachusetts? So bad that instead of lobbying his pal George W. Bush to come to the state to debate Al Gore and put the spotlight on the Commonwealth, Governor Paul Cellucci is all but advising Bush to stay away.

In defending Bush's decision to avoid the October 3 debate at the Kennedy Library, Cellucci acknowledged that the state can be an unfriendly place for Republicans. "The last debate that I had . . . where there was a lot of audience participation made it very difficult for Scott Harshbarger and I to have that intelligent discussion of the issues, and I think the voters of Massachusetts suffered because of that," Cellucci said, according to the State House News Service.

Guess that's why Cellucci spends so much time out of state these days.