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It's Friday September 9th, 2022 from Peachfish Productions, it's the gist I'm Mike Pesca.

And the Pennsylvania Senate race is getting closer.

John Federman's campaign strategy of not campaigning is proving to be costly.

But Mehmet Oz is banging on and it would be malpractice, candidate malpractice if you weren't,

about Federman's disinclination to participate in debates.

So the polling showed consistently Federman up by double digits, but the last two polls out,

and Emerson Poll conducted in the last couple of weeks of August, have Federman up by four,

Margin of Vera 3, and Asus Quahana Poll has Federman up by five, that was conducted two weeks ago,

Margin of Vera 3.7.

And I understand it. Yes, Federman had a stroke, and yes, it was wrong for Mehmet Oz's campaign

to make fun of Federman's weight as a contributing factor to a stroke wrong, not because weight can

contribute to strokes, but wrong to make fun of it. However, voters do want to see candidates

engage in debates, and if you say it's unfair for Federman to be made to participate in debates,

maybe you're questioning debates, not the fairness of this particular case.

Voters want to use debates, and do use debates, to get a gauge of a candidate's mental

acuity, their rhetorical fluency, their verbal dexterity, and this race should be no different.

So I do think, not just because of the trajectory of the polls, but the fact that Federman's

campaign seems to think that the downside of performing very poorly in a debate isn't worth

the upside of just taking Oz's only real issue off the table. I do think the trajectory of the

polls is going to continue. Things are going to get tighter, or maybe even Oz will win this race,

which we didn't think he would. I'll also say, and again, if I haven't made this clear,

...