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Ohio-Georgia debate canceled after 3 drop out

New Ohio poll gives Santorum an 18-point lead over Romney.

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By Lynn Hulsey, Staff Writer Updated 10:15 PM Thursday, February 16, 2012

CNN has called off a March 1 Republican primary debate in Georgia that would have included Ohio participants after Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul said they would not participate, said spokesmen from the Ohio and Georgia Republican parties.

Chris Maloney, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party, said officials are not disappointed. “The Ohio Republican party would rather have Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul here in Ohio at Lincoln Day dinners and in rallies in person” than in Georgia,” he said.

“That is the retail politicking Ohioans are accustomed to and what we’ll be seeing during the days and weeks ahead.”

The only debate now scheduled before Super Tuesday is Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. in Arizona. It will air on CNN.

Late Thursday afternoon, CNN informed the Georgia GOP of the decision to “postpone” the debate, which Georgia GOP spokesman Chris Kelleher said means the debate will not occur unless the candidates have a change of heart.

Georgia GOP Chairman Sue Everhart said the candidates’ decision to pull out “is truly disheartening” and she hopes they reconsider. “On behalf of Republicans across Georgia and our friends in the Ohio Republican Party, I am deeply disappointed in today’s developments regarding the 2012 Super Tuesday Republican Presidential Debate,” Everhart said.

Kelleher confirmed that Romney and Paul formally turned down their invitations within “close proximity” of each other Thursday. Santorum said he would not participate in the debate unless all candidates did so, Kelleher said. He said Newt Gingrich still planned to participate.

Speaking in California after Romney’s decision became public, but before CNN made its decision, Gingrich said he was committed to the Atlanta event.

“The Romney model is go to Wall Street and raise huge amounts of money to run negative ads, and you can understand why having to defend that strategy is probably not something he’s very happy about,” Gingrich told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Romney campaigned near Cleveland on Thursday night and, according to his campaign spokesman has more Ohio events in the works.

“Gov. Romney will be spending a lot of time campaigning in Georgia and Ohio ahead of Super Tuesday,” said Ryan Williams, spokesman for the Romney campaign. “With eight other states voting on March 6th, we will be campaigning in other parts of the country and unable to schedule the CNN Georgia debate. We have participated in 20 debates, including eight from CNN.”

The Santorum and Paul campaigns did not respond to a request for comment.

The debate cancellation came on the same day as a new Rasmussen Reports poll of likely GOP voters in Ohio gave Santroum an 18-point lead over Romney, 42 to 24.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday had them slightly closer with Santorum at 36, Romney at 29 and Gingrich at 20.

Maloney had earlier touted the debate as possibly the first of its kind — with candidates live in Georgia and Ohioans asking questions from here. He had been scouting locations with CNN representatives and hoped to announce the location of the Ohio portion of the event by today.

Maloney, who was attending the Romney event in Cleveland with Chairman Kevin DeWine on Thursday, said he does not know why the candidates decided to pull out of the debate.

“I can’t even begin to understand why,” said Maloney. “There could be any number of reasons.”

He said it could have been strategic decision, a matter of scheduling or the press of demands in the multiple states with primaries between now and Super Tuesday, the March 6 date when Ohio, Georgia and 5 other states hold primaries and four hold Republican caucuses.

Aaron Gould Sheinin of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report

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