Rick Lazio will not debate his GOP rival Carl Paladino and is blaming…NY1.

The station tried scheduling a debate for this upcoming Monday but was unable to get Lazio to confirm to it.

Here’s how NY1 describes it:

The Lazio campaign sites a scheduling conflict, but NY1 first proposed this date to Team Lazio weeks ago and did not get a final answer until yesterday. NY1 also asked for alternate dates that would fit Lazio’s schedule, but his campaign never proposed any.

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Lazio’s campaign accused NY1 and [member station] YNN of being in league with Paladino but said in an email, “we look forward to debating Andrew Cuomo on YNN before November 2.”

FYI: today, Lazio is campaigning at the New York State Fair.

So, allow me to inject myself pointlessly into the debate about debates.

Since scheduling is difficult, what about doing what they did in the 2008 presidential debates: let's have readers post their questions to YouTube and I’ll post them on the blog. Then, if either Lazio or Paladino want to respond, they can upload their answers to YouTube as well.

Just an idea.