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By MARY K. BLEWITT
Arundel Newspapers State Reporter
Same place, same time, different story. The story of the unraveled debate between the two candidates for governor runs like a warped reel of film with both sides telling different tales.
Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. L. Douglas Wilder walked out on a scheduled formal debate before the Virginia Press Association in Virginia Beach on Saturday. He charges that his opponent, GOP candidate J. Marshall Coleman, stepped over debate guidelines by bringing in video cameras. The Wilder campaign opposed using debate film clips for campaign commercials.
The Coleman campaign, which used footage from the Republican Primary debates for previous commercials, denied ever agreeing to debate without the cameras, and said that Wilder was merely attempting to change the rules.
“It has been their pattern to try to change the rules at the last minute,” said Dennis Peterson, Coleman’s campaign manager.
Wilder said he boycotted the debate as a matter of principle.
“Why shouldn’t a man be forced to keep his word?” said Laura F. Dillard, Wilder’s campaign spokesman.
Both campaigns met with each other and representatives from the VPA the previous Tuesday to set guidelines for Saturday’s debate. Neither party . agrees what took place at the meeting.
“When it came time to set the rules, we agreed no filming would be used for campaign purposes,” said Dillard.
“We suggested that we have a complete rundown of the rules,” relates Peterson. “There was no mention of limitations on film — no agreement on it whatsoever.”
Coleman and Wilder debated one week earlier at a meeting before the Virginia Bar Association in Sulphur Springs, W.Va. The two candidates have agreed that the ground rules for the Green Briar debate prohibited the use of video tapes for campaign broadcasts.
“On a matter of principle, we wrere not going to debate if the cameras were in the room,” Dillard reiterated Wilder's position.
Although they say they had no specific plans to use the film footage for commercials, members of the
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