First Young Debate To Be About The Fish, Just The Fish, And Only The Fish

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

No one will ever say that Rep. Don Young (R-AK) can’t handle the tough questions. OK, so maybe he tends to handle them by shouting down his questioners, but the man can take care of himself.

Well, Young is due for his first debate of the campaign tonight. But unfortunately there won’t be any questions about why Young has paid defense attorneys almost $1 million, or whether he violated the Constitution in order to benefit a major campaign contributor, or any of his other entanglements.

That’s because it’s all about fish:

The kinds of questions that so annoyed the incumbent, Don Young, that he canceled a press conference last month — his relationship to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff or why he’s spent nearly $1 million on legal fees — will be off limits in Kodiak.

The debate is part of the Comfish exposition and moderator John Whiddon, president of Island Seafoods and the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, said any question not directly related to fishing will be ruled out of order.

Somehow you got to figure that someone will manage to work their way under Young’s skin nonetheless. The debate will feature six participants, minus Young’s prominent Republican primary challenger Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell. But Dem Jake Metcalfe, whom Young has dubbed “Jake the Snake,” will be there to get him riled up.

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: