When U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith claimed that her schedule in Washington was just too busy and too fluid to commit to debating her opponents in next month’s special election, it was obviously a lame excuse.
Hyde-Smith has now been caught on tape admitting as much.
At a private meet-and-greet, according to a video released by one of her two main opponents, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, Hyde-Smith acknowledged that she was following her campaign strategists’ advice to not give the fiery but underfunded fellow Republican the free publicity that a televised debate would provide. She said she was told that debating McDaniel was “like handing him a $200,000 campaign donation.”
If that’s true, it would only be so if McDaniel were to outshine her and the other serious contender, Democrat Mike Espy, in the debate. That’s more likely what she and her handlers are afraid of.
While there are still four candidates in the field, Hyde-Smith can get away with dodging them. But once it’s whittled down to two, and assuming she is one of the survivors and McDaniel or Espy the other, the political risk of not debating may be greater than debating for her. It will come off as a sign of weakness if she continues to balk — a tag that even Donald Trump’s endorsement might not be able to counter.
