No Debate Before The North Carolina Primary

According to Wilkipedia, these have been the debates thus far in the Democratic presidential race (not verified- others have put the number of debates held at 20):

5.1 April 26, 2007 – Orangeburg, South Carolina
5.2 June 3, 2007 - CNN 7:00pm EDT - Manchester, New Hampshire
5.3 June 28, 2007 - PBS - Washington, D.C.
5.4 July 12, 2007 – Detroit, Michigan
5.5 July 23, 2007 - CNN - Charleston, South Carolina
5.6 August 4, 2007 – Chicago, Illinois
5.7 August 7, 2007 – Chicago, Illinois
5.8 August 9, 2007 – Los Angeles, California
5.9 August 19, 2007 – Des Moines, Iowa
5.10 September 9, 2007 – Coral Gables, Florida
5.11 September 12, 2007
5.12 September 20, 2007 – Davenport, Iowa
5.13 September 26, 2007 – Hanover, New Hampshire
5.14 October 30, 2007 - NBC 9:00pm EDT - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5.15 November 15, 2007 - CNN - Las Vegas, Nevada
5.16 December 4, 2007 - NPR (radio only) - Des Moines, Iowa
5.17 December 13, 2007 – Johnston, Iowa
5.18 January 5, 2008 - ABC 8:45pm EST - Manchester, New Hampshire
5.19 January 15, 2008 - MSNBC 6:00pm PST - Las Vegas, Nevada
5.20 January 21, 2008 - CNN 8:00pm EST - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
5.21 January 31, 2008 - CNN 5:00pm PDT - Hollywood, California
5.22 February 2, 2008 - MTV 6:00pm EST - MTV Myspace Debate
5.23 February 21, 2008 - CNN 7:00pm CST - Austin, Texas
5.24 February 26, 2008 - MSNBC 9:00pm EST - Cleveland, Ohio
5.25 April 16, 2008 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5.26 April 18, 2008 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5.27 April 27, 2008 - North Carolina


Oops! There will be no debate in North Carolina. The Caucus, a New York Times blog, reported on April 22, 2008:

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign issued a statement saying: “It is unfortunate that Senator Obama has chosen to brush off the people of North Carolina by flatly refusing to debate. But we are willing to move forward with another time and location for the debate so that he has no excuse for not participating.”

An Obama campaign spokesman, Bill Burton, replied: “It’s unfortunate that the Clinton campaign decided to play politics with this — especially considering that Senator Obama agreed to a North Carolina debate long before Senator Clinton did, and their campaign took three weeks to consider and ultimately reject that proposal.”

(The Clinton campaign rejected the original date of 4/19/08 because it is the first day of Passover and the two camps then worked out the later date.)

The posting concluded "CNN and PBS have offered to sponsor a debate in Indiana ahead of that state’s May 6 primary. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has accepted the invitation; Mr. Obama’s campaign has not." To all those who have watched the previous debates, this comes as no surprise.