By Jules Boykoff
While Oregon suffers from an intense array of social and economic problems in need of political solutions, frontrunner gubernatorial candidates Chris Dudley and John Kitzhaber have been unwilling to agree to a full slate of public debates. The only debate on the docket -- Sept. 30 at the KGW studios in Portland -- promises to be a humdrum sound-bite festival with candidates all but knowing the pre-cooked questions in advance.
To get beyond this impasse of democracy, it's clear what needs to be done: Kitzhaber must challenge Dudley to a free-throw competition. This, in turn, would lead to an unorthodox mano-a-mano public debate.
Each candidate would launch ten free throws, and for each shot made, the contender would earn the opportunity to ask his opponent a direct question. After listening to his response, he could offer a detailed rebuttal. The event could take place in the Rose Garden with Joel Przybilla (56 percent career free-throw shooter and the only Blazer to publicly support John McCain in 2008) and Greg Oden (67 percent career free-throw shooter and Barack Obama enthusiast) serving as free-throw advisers. Veteran NBA referee Dick Bavetta would be on hand to run the clock, call fouls when candidates slide off topic, and dole out technicals if the questions aren't actually answered.
The traditional debate format all too often translates into political sleepwalking, regurgitation of vapid platitudes and telegraphed talking points. Not only are third parties excluded, but all too often the candidates spew cookie-cutter yip-yap straight from the chambers of PR firms.
The "Free-Throw Summit" could lead to a free-style discussion, putting the debate in the hands of the participants and encouraging them to scrap the tedious debate script. It might also generate interest beyond Wonksville. And the free-throw format would afford Dudley the chance to redeem himself after earning one of the lowest career free-throw percentages in NBA history --45.8 percent.
Basketball coaches will tell you a subpar free-throw percentage means a lack of concentration and hard work. As Dudley himself will tell you, the governorship demands both attributes. This unconventional debate would give candidates the opportunity to demonstrate both concentration and hard work as well as forward thinking and spunky mettle -- all under the bright lights of public scrutiny.
The lack of substantive, non-scripted debate is no joke, with critical issues like unemployment, global warming, and shrinking education budgets biting at our collective heels. We need to know from the gubernatorial hopefuls what they'll do to get our schools on firm financial footing, to push sustainable logging policies on state forests, to forge real-deal solutions in the face of climate change. It's time for Kitzhaber and Dudley to place their respective cowboy boots and penny loafers behind the line for the sake of public discourse and for the sake of Oregon. It's clutch time, folks.
Jules Boykoff is the chair of the political science department at Pacific University in Forest Grove. Reach him at
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