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Kevin Wade on Principles & Values |
Wade issued public statements in May and a written request to Carper's campaign in July asking the senator for "10 or 20 debates" across Delaware. Carper is now in his second term as a U.S. Senator and previously served as State Treasurer, as Delaware's U.S. Congressman, and as Governor. When Carper campaigned against then-Senator William Roth in 2000, they engaged in several statewide debates that Carper called "the Delaware way," setting a precedent that Wade seeks to exploit in un-seating Carper. Neither Carper nor his campaign office acknowledged Wade's debate challenge until last night's forum in North Wilmington.
Wade said that Carper challenged then-incumbent senator William V. Roth (R-DE) to a series of twenty debates statewide in 2000. Carper defeated Roth in that election, and called the debate challenge "the Delaware way."
"There are 880,000 people in the state that have questions they'd like to ask of Senator Carper" Wade said during his call-in to a popular Wilmington radio program. "Maybe we can get 500 at a time into a room and get the questions asked and he can describe his vision from his 35-year incumbency standpoint," he continued.
Wade described Carper as "silent Tom down in the Senate." He said the debates in 2000, which he referred to as "the Carper rule," were a good idea then and are a good idea now. "Good ideas don't age," he said.