Senate Candidate Coats To Speak At Debate In Warsaw
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
U.S. Senate candidate Dan Coats is scheduled to speak at a debate in Warsaw in March.
Pete Seat, press secretary for the campaign for Dan Coats for U.S. Senate, confirmed Thursday that Coats will speak in Warsaw at the debate.
"We believe it is an important forum for the citizens of the Warsaw area to have the opportunity to hear from all of the Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate nomination," Seat said.Seat said the Coats campaign had a previous event originally scheduled the day of the debate in Warsaw, but cancelled the event so Coats would have the opportunity to speak in Warsaw.
Kosciusko Silent No More will host the Senate debate March 6 from 10 a.m. to noon at Center Lake Pavilion, 119 E. Canal St., Warsaw.
Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. and admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis. The pavilion holds approximately 400 people.
Kosciusko Silent No More is a grassroots organization that is designed for the purpose of standing for freedom and the Constitution.
The group meets the first Tuesday of each month at Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church at 7 p.m.
Coats (R-Fort Wayne) confirmed Feb. 10 that he would challenge Democratic incumbent Evan Bayh in the U.S. Senate election. On Feb. 15 Bayh revealed that he will not be running for re-election.
Coats previously served as a U.S. Senator from Indiana.
Coats will face Senate candidates Don Bates Jr. (R-Kokomo), Marlin Stutzman (R-Howe), John Hostettler (R-Blairsville) and Richard Behney (R-Fishers).
The primary is May 4 and the general election is Nov. 2.
The Times-Union previously reported in its Feb. 25 edition that a national media organization has expressed interest in reporting on the debate.
The name of the media outlet is not being disclosed to the public because the outlet said the debate is about the candidates, and not the media covering them.
Monica Boyer, co-founder of Kosciusko Silent No More, said she received a phone call and an e-mail from Coats' campaign office Thursday afternoon confirming that Coats will speak at the forum.
Boyer said Kosciusko Silent No More contacted Coats' staff two weeks before he announced he would seek the seat inviting him to speak at the debate.
The group also sent another e-mail to Coats' staff after he announced he would run for the Senate seat to invite him to Warsaw.
A Kosciusko Silent No More board member called into a Fort Wayne talk radio station last week that Coats was speaking on and invited him to speak at the debate in Warsaw, Seats confirmed.
Boyer said the group is excited to have all of the Senate candidates speak in Warsaw.
"Our number one goal is to bring candidates to Kosciusko County so we will have informed voters," Boyer said.
The debate format is as follows: Each candidate will have two minutes to give an opening address, there will be a question-and-answer period for an hour and 20 minutes, and each candidate will have one minute to give closing remarks.
People are asked to e-mail questions they have for the Senate candidates to Boyer at monboy2303@yahoo.com or kosdebate@gmail.com
The moderator will pre- select the questions that will be asked of the candidates. Dr. Michael Harstine will serve as moderator.
Debate attendees also will be given cards the day of the event before the debate begins to write down questions they have for the candidates.
Harstine will randomly select the questions that will be asked of the candidates based on the questions submitted from attendees.
There will be tables set up following the debate for each candidate to sit and speak one on one with attendees.
For more information about Kosciusko Silent No More, visit www.kosciuskosilentnomore.com
