CA: Candidates on Hunger Strike Demand Debate

From the CS Monitor:

Democratic congressional candidate Richard Lutz . . .  stopped eating on Aug. 12 to bring attention to his California 52nd District opponent, incumbent Duncan D. Hunter, who won’t debate him until late October . . . “It’s a very sad commentary when in a democracy you have to go on a hunger strike to get a debate with your opponent,” he told CNN. . . .

Lutz is joined in his hunger strike by Libertarian candidate Michael Benoit, as the two candidates try to pressure Hunter to agree to a series of at least five debates. The duo has issued a statement enumerating what they see as an incumbent's advantages: spending taxpayer money on brochures to promote themselves, promoting "phoney job fairs” to get free media coverage, and gerrymandering districts to their own advantage. Lutz and Benoit planned to break their hunger strike and publicly challenge Duncan to a debate at an event Friday evening.