Jeff Clark, the independent candidate running against Democrat Tom Perriello and Republican Robert Hurt, is offering to drop out of the race — but only in the unlikely case that Hurt agrees to debate him on TV and a subsequent poll shows he is favored by fewer than 25 percent of likely voters.
Clark, a tea party member from Danville, has said his campaign’s only chance to gain visibility is through his participation in a series of televised debates.
Hurt, however, has refused to appear at any debate that includes Clark. Hurt’s campaign argues that Clark has no chance of winning so any debate should give voters the chance to compare the race’s two major party candidates.
In a statement Thursday evening, Clark denounced Hurt’s stance against allowing him into the debate.
“State Senator Hurt, in a blatant act of political snobbery and elitism, refused to participate in any debates or forums in which I was an invited participant,” Clark said. “He held his breath and stomped his feet like a spoiled child until he got his way.”
Clark goes on to challenge Hurt to a debate and sets the conditions of his withdrawal from the race.
“I will publicly extend the following offer to State Senator Hurt; if you allow me to participate in one televised debate and if I do not poll at 25 percent or higher immediately following that debate in an independent poll, I will drop out of the race and support you in your bid for Congress,” Clark wrote.
When asked if Hurt would be willing to abide by Clark’s conditions and participate in a TV debate with the independent candidate, Hurt spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg did not directly answer the question.
“Congressman Perriello has voted with Nancy Pelosi over 90 percent of the time, and our campaign is focused on making sure we send Robert Hurt to Washington so that he can be a check and balance to the job-killing, big-spending Pelosi-Perriello agenda,” she wrote in e-mail.
In his statement, Clark also says he and the Rutherford Institute, an Albemarle County-based civil liberties organization, are pursuing a legal challenge to his exclusion from the debates on First Amendment grounds.
A Rutherford Institute spokeswoman, Nisha Mohammed, however, said the organization’s efforts to find a Charlottesville-area lawyer willing to work pro bono on Clark’s case have not proven fruitful.
“We’re still looking, but it looks doubtful at this point due to attorney unavailability,” she said.
Clark’s statement was issued in response to a call from the Jefferson Area Tea Party that called on him to be accountable for his previous promises to drop out if it appeared he had no chance of winning and was only playing a “spoiler” role in the race.
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