Save the Date? Chris Murphy Reserves Three Venues For Debates Next Week with Linda McMahon

Chris Murphy’s Senate campaign says it has yet to hear back from rival Linda McMahon about whether she will agree to a debate next week.

But a Murphy spokeswoman says the campaign gone ahead and reserved three venues anyway.

“Since Linda McMahon is ducking a debate on jobs, we figured we’d make it easy on her and give her the choice of three venues for next week,” Murphy spokeswoman Taylor Lavender said in an email. “Can’t she just spare 90 minutes to try to defend her store-bought jobs website against Chris’s plan to invest in the middle class?”

Lavender said the campaign has reserved New London High School, the Stamford Center for the Arts and the Polish National Home in Hartford for 7 p.m. Tuesday.On Wednesday, Murphy, a Democrat, challenged McMahon to a debate on jobs next week.

McMahon, a Republican, responded she would participate once Murphy released his jobs plan. Her campaign manager, Corry Bliss, called Murphy’s move a publicity stunt.

UPDATE: Bliss released the following statement this afternoon:

“Arguing about debates is the last bastion of campaigns devoid of ideas and scrambling for traction. It is the height of irony for Chris Murphy to be clamoring for debates about jobs, when he has failed to craft a plan to create jobs after thirteen years in elected office. Further, debates hidden in the doldrums of August do not hold nearly the weight that debates in the fall would. Were it not for the juvenile taunts of the Murphy campaign, we could have a serious discussion about when and where such debates will occur in the fall.

“Linda has committed to four televised debates. Two of them must be focused primarily on job creation, with one of those to be held in or near Groton, home of Electric Boat. We have already agreed to one hosted by WFSB-TV, and another co-hosted by the Hartford Courant and Fox Connecticut. Just this morning, we agreed to another debate hosted by The Day and WTNH-TV to be held in New London, very close to the shipyard. A fourth is yet to be determined.

“Rather than spend his precious time issuing sophomoric press releases, perhaps Chris Murphy should spend his time putting pen to paper and coming up with an actual plan to improve the economy. As it stands now, Linda McMahon is the only candidate who proposes a real plan to create jobs, beginning with a tax cut for the middle class.”