The Sherrod Brown campaign was quick Thursday morning to pounce on Josh Mandel's delay in agreeing to a debate of the Ohio U.S. Senate candidates in front of the Cleveland City Club.
According to the city club, Democratic incumbent Brown has agreed to an invitation by the city club to debate on either Oct. 1 or Oct. 8, while Republican Ohio state Treasurer Mandel had not, as of Thursday.
Mandel spokesman Travis Considine said Mandel has agreed to do the City Club as well as two other debates, and was still reviewing the schedule.
The Brown campaign unloaded all its guns.
"Josh Mandel is lying again."
"Sen. Sherrod Brown is the only candidate in this race who has accepted a formal debate invitation with a specific date and a specific city," said Sadie Weiner, spokeswoman for Friends of Sherrod Brown. "For Josh Mandel to claim he has accepted three debates when he hasn't accepted the only debate on the table is the latest in a long string of lies by Mandel, who can't be trusted to show up for work, hire qualified staff or accept campaign donations that don't interest the FBI."
In actuality, Mandel already agreed to debate Brown in front of the Cleveland City Club, according to Carrie Miller, programs director of the Cleveland City Club. She said both campaigns agreed to a debate on Oct. 3.
But the city club on Tuesday emailed the two campaigns and told them that they have to reschedule because they don't want to conflict with a presidential debate that is set for the same day. So they asked the two campaigns if they would accept an alternative date, either Oct. 1 or Oct. 8.
"We got confirmation from one of the campaigns. We have no reason to believe [Mandel's] not going to accept. We did not put a deadline on response time," Miller said.
"We're definitely doing it. We just haven’t figured out schedule-wise which of those dates," said Considine.
Considine said Mandel has agreed to two other debates, but with no firm time, place, or date, one in Columbus, one in Zanesville.
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