In a letter sent Tuesday to all potential Democratic nominees, Dole challenged her opponent to refrain from print, television and radio advertising for the remainder of the Senate race and to instead channel ad money into debates. She pledged to do the same if the Democratic nominee accepted the challenge.
"North Carolina voters deserve better than name-calling and finger-pointing," Dole said Tuesday in her speech accepting the Republican nomination.
"I have waged a positive campaign -- but so far I've been alone in that regard," she said.
Bowles will continue to advertise but has asked that the two set guidelines for issue-based advertising, Woodhouse said.
"He has proposed to her that they meet (today) and reach an agreement on advertisement," Woodhouse said. As of press time, Dole had yet to respond to Bowles' request.
Woodhouse said Bowles is not only committed to clean advertising but also to open debate.
"He agreed with Mrs. Dole that we needed debate," he said.
Dole's request, though it will not be met in full, has determined that the two candidates will publicly discuss key issues during the course of their campaigns, Woodhouse said.
"He accepts as resolved the issue of debate," he said. "We will debate."
But UNC political science Professor Thad Beyle said he thinks Dole's proposal is mere rhetoric and does not reflect a real commitment to debate.
"It's a political move," he said. "If I had to guess, they don't want to get into debates."
Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC's Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life, also said he thinks Dole's proposition is a carefully crafted campaign strategy.
"At this stage of a campaign both campaigns are doing what they see as tactically advantageous," he said. "Her proposal is tactically advantageous to her."
Banning campaign advertising would limit Bowles' ability to publically criticize Dole's stance on key issues, Guillory said.
"Clearly it seems to me that the Dole campaign is trying to minimize the opportunities for the Bowles campaign to criticize her stand on issues and her record," he said.
But Guillory said that issues should not be addressed only in campaign advertisements and that he supports open debate.
"I think sooner or later the voters deserve to have the candidates side by side discussing the issues, answering questions, testing each other's positions," he said. "I certainly hope we have at least two or three substantive debates."
Dole has said she is committed to debate no matter how Bowles responds to her proposition. "We will debate," she said Tuesday.
Bowles would like to begin debates before the end of the month, Woodhouse said. "Erskine hopes to start debating as early as next week."
Assistant State & National Editor Jennifer Samuels contributed to this article.
The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
