Nancy Pelosi wont debate Cindy Sheehan

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Cindy Sheehan, candidate for Congress, has gone public with her challenge to debate Nancy Pelosi in the race for San Francisco’s 8th Congressional District.

“We’ve been asking for a debate with Pelosi for months now, and she’s ignored us,” said Sheehan. “I’m ready to debate her at any time and at any place. From the economy and the war to the environment and education, voters have a right to know how the candidates purporting to represent them will manage the crucial challenges facing our country today.”

The campaign first formally invited Pelosi to a debate in September, but has yet to receive a response. Sheehan has also indicated her willingness to accommodate any date, format or location preferred by Pelosi. Sheehan’s campaign has also sent a similar invitation to the remaining candidates in the race — Dana Walsh(R) and Phillip Berg(L).

“Every day, my campaign receives inquiries from people about debates between the candidates,” said Sheehan. “I demand that my opponent respect the electoral process and agree to at least one debate in a public forum. The people in this District deserve to know where she stands on the issues, and what she has been doing in Washington to represent their interests. The stakes are too high right now for her to do anything less.”

Sheehan’s campaign has further indicated that, if Pelosi fails to respond, they will hold a debate on October 26 in San Francisco using video footage of Pelosi and her published statements to represent her opinions.

Recent polls show that voters in California are growing increasingly disenchanted with Pelosi’s performance in Washington. According to a May Field Poll, only 30% of California voters approved of Pelosi’s performance, while 39% disapproved. A Zogby poll, conducted from September 24 through September 25, also shows that Pelosi has seen an 18% drop in voter support since California’s June primary.

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Today, the Cindy for Congress Campaign, dedicated to electing Cindy Sheehan to Congress to replace Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), announced a full scale media blitz throughout San Francisco’s 8th Congressional District.

The campaign confirmed that 360 television ads, 1,243 radio ads and print advertising in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Bay Guardian and The Bay View had all been coordinated to appear with direct mail and door tags distributed to voters throughout San Francisco this week.

“This coordinated media campaign is the best way for me to reach voters in San Francisco,” said Cindy Sheehan. “People in San Francisco have already begun to question Nancy Pelosi’s ability to represent their values and beliefs. I want to be sure everyone knows there’s a real choice when they go to fill out their ballot.”

A recently released Zogby poll found that nearly 87% of registered voters in California’s 8th Congressional District think that they now are worse off financially than they were in January of 2007 when Nancy Pelosi was named Speaker of the House. The poll also showed that 43% of those voters opposed the federal government’s financial bailout of Wall Street, a move championed by Pelosi in Congress. The poll, conducted from September 24 through September 25, has a margin of error of +/- 5.0 percentage points.

“I’ve always put people before politics,” said Sheehan, a long-time political activist. “Now I have the chance to reach out to San Franciscans through the media and let them know exactly how I plan to do that when I’m elected to Congress.”

The campaign’s television and radio ads can also be accessed through its website, http://www.cindyforcongress.org, where voters are invited to learn more about Cindy Sheehan and her Congressional campaign.

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