Every now and then I find myself tuning into the Mike Wolfe radio show, which airs on a local AM radio station every afternoon. The show, aptly named after its host (go figure), usually features highly debated political topics that are in the news at the time. Of course, one of the most talked about stories in the political world right now is the upcoming U.S. Senate run-off between Suzanne Haik Terrell and Mary Landrieu.
After listening to one show last week, I was outraged at what transpired. Mr. Wolfe, in his opinion, had a brilliant idea where he planned to turn his show into a three-hour forum between the two candidates. In this three-hour debate the candidates could discuss the issues facing Louisiana in the next six years and tell the listeners their plans on improving the quality of the state.
Mr. Wolfe set forth one rule for the forum from the start — personal character attacks from one candidate to the other would not be allowed. Up to that point, I was ok with the proposition he proposed.
However, the next statement he made really got me going. He proclaimed that if these two ladies did not show up for his forum on the day he determined, he would not vote for either candidate and he instructed his listeners to refrain from going to the polls and voting for either candidate as well. Mr. Wolfe stressed the point that if both candidates did not appear on his show, neither cared about the people and the state of Louisiana. I don’t know about you, but this sounds to me like blackmail.
First of all, Mr. Wolfe needs to take a detour from the ego trip he is on and realize where he is. His radio show is local to Baton Rouge. It may be heard in a few surrounding towns. Maybe if he is lucky, one-fourth of the state can pick up his show on the AM dial.
Mr. Wolfe made it sound as if neither candidate cared about the issues at hand, and if they didn’t come on his show, it meant that they did not care about the state of Louisiana. This is wrong of him to say because both of the candidates have attended numerous debates in the months leading up to the past election, and they have made their stances on the issues clear to the voters.
I have worked as a volunteer and behind the scenes in several political campaigns, and they are extremely time consuming. There are only so many hours in each day, and with a statewide campaign of this magnitude a candidate can only do so many things. I do not think the Mike Wolfe show is on the top of the agenda for either candidate, nor should it be. Besides, yesterday these two ladies went head-to-head on the nationally televised Meet the Press weekly television show. I think it is safe to say that more Louisianians tuned in to this program rather than Wolfe’s local one.
It appears to me that Mr. Wolfe desperately wants them to come on his show in order to boost his own ratings. If they do not adhere to his wishes he will take all means necessary to downgrade the candidates while trying to coerce his listeners not to vote for either candidate on Dec. 7.
I do not think either candidate should go out of their way to make it to this forum he is offering. By no means am I trying to downgrade Mr. Wolfe’s show as a whole. But his demands for the candidates are ridiculous considering the amount of time still left in the campaign. If he continues to downgrade political candidates and slam them in this fashion, he may find that political candidates, no matter how hungry they are to get free airtime, will refuse to come on his show.