Gavin Can't Talk for Two Minutes Straight!

Gavin Newsom: "I can't speak coherently for two minutes straight."

Today, November 22nd, Mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez challenged Gavin Newsom to have a substantive dialogue of the issues at the next televised mayoral debates, scheduled for Monday, November 24 on ABC affiliate KGO, and on Tuesday, December 2 on CBS affiliate KPIX.

This challenge stems from the Newsom campaign’s refusal to accept debate terms with responses of more than one minute. Newsom’s campaign also sought to reduce the number of candidate-to-candidate questions.

In discussions of the format for the next debate, the Gonzalez campaign requested that the two candidates be allowed answers of at least two minutes. “One minute is insufficient time to answer questions about the important issues facing our City. To insist on one-minute answers in a two-person race is an insult to voters’ intelligence,” said Gonzalez.

Campaign Manager Enrique Pearce, who negotiated the debate terms on behalf of the campaign, noted, “If Gavin Newsom is truly a candidate with substance, he should relish extra time to answer questions. If the Newsom campaign is concerned with the number of topics covered, we would agree without hesitation to longer debates with more questions, so long as there is sufficient time to answer them. Previous televised debates have allowed two-minute responses.”