Reports Question Cancellation of TV Debate

SYRACUSE and UTICA-ROME -- Plans for a one-hour, two-market televised debate between the two candidates for the 22nd Congressional District have been cancelled, amid controversy in which one candidate, who was refusing to appear for the debate, is being accused of threatening to pull his advertising dollars from Utica's WUTR.

Because of the complexity of the story, we defer to three media outlets which are already covering the story:

• CNY Central: Did WSYR and WUTR drop debate because of pressure from Hanna?
• Utica Observer-Dispatch: Email: Hanna discussed pulling ads after debate flap with WUTR
• Politics on the Hudson: Email says Hanna threatened no ads if station didn’t drop debate plan