On congressional debates in the Ninth District

The Kingsport paper reports here ("Triplett says Boucher dodging debates," 8/2/04) that Republican candidate Kevin Triplett is frustrated because he cannot get Congressman Boucher to come and debate him. The article says that Congressman Boucher "will do as he always has in an election year and participate in a single debate in the fall." Of course, in 1984, his first re-election campaign, Congressman Boucher debated Republican Jeff Stafford all over the place, something like 10 or 12 times. I wrote a college paper on the Boucher '84 campaign.