CNN Worried John Fetterman Will Lose Race if He Doesn’t ‘Come Out and Play’

LEMONT FURNACE, PENNSYLVANIA - MAY 10: Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman campaigns for
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Joshua Klein

CNN warned that Democrat John Fetterman would lose the upcoming Pennsylvania Senate race this coming November if he continued refusing to “come out and play,” accusing the Democratic frontrunner of being “shielded from the media” while hiding from Pennsylvania residents following his stated unwillingness to debate his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz.

Speaking with co-anchor of CNN’s Newsroom Victor Blackwell, CNN political analyst Michael Smerconish called out Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Fetterman for relying heavily on media while investing little in live appearances before crowds, saying that “in the end, I think he’s going to have to come out and play.”

“In the end, I don’t think he can win the campaign — Fetterman — by simply running an organized social media or paid media campaign,” he added.

Smerconish also supported questioning whether Fetterman is “100 percent” or whether he will “make a full recovery” from his recent stroke.

“He’s really been shielded from the media thus far,” the CNN analyst said.

“One of the interviews that he did was with closed captioning,” he added. “He’s done two public events: he spoke for about 10 minutes at one of them and four minutes at another. So, you know, people rightfully, I think, want to know how he’s doing.”

In addition, CNN National Political Reporter Dan Merica warned that Fetterman’s apparent tendency to “avoid” addressing voters and their issues “could stick.”

Speaking with CNN anchor John King, Merica admitted the matter “actually does have some resonance.”

In a statement on Tuesday evening, Fetterman declined an early September debate against his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz in the Pennsylvania US Senate race, citing recovery from his recent stroke in May.

In the statement, he accused his Republican opponent of mocking his recovery.

“I’m eager to put my record and my values up against Dr. Oz’s any day of the week,” Fetterman said. “As I recover from this stroke and improve my auditory processing and speech, I look forward to continuing to meet with the people of Pennsylvania.”

On Tuesday, the Oz campaign team published a list of concessions for the debate, including an offer, according to NBC News, to:

…pay for any additional medical personnel” that Fetterman might need on standby while reportedly allowing him “bathroom breaks and allowing him to have all of his notes on hand, along with an earpiece to obtain answers from his staff.

In response, Fetterman said the list of “concessions” from Oz’s campaign “made it abundantly clear that they think it is funny to mock a stroke survivor.”

“My recovery may be a joke to Dr. Oz and his team, but it’s real for me,” he said.

The Oz campaign has challenged Fetterman to as many as five debates ahead of the November midterm election as the Democratic Senate candidate continues to struggle with public speaking.

Despite attempts to avoid the matter, questions about Fetterman’s health and mental faculties continue to raise public suspicion.

Last month, Christopher Borick, a pollster and political science professor at Pennsylvania’s Muhlenberg College, told NBC News that Fetterman will have to debate Oz in the fall if he wishes to secure a victory:

There is a degree of pressure for Fetterman to demonstrate that he’s ready to go. It doesn’t mean he has to agree with everything. But he’s going to have to debate Oz this fall. I don’t think it’s highly salient in this campaign but given Fetterman’s health situation, he has to show he’s capable of occupying this role.

In response to his debate decline, Oz spokesperson Brittany Yanick called Fetterman “a liar, a liberal, and a coward.”

“Ok, so when will he debate?” she said. “He won’t ever say — not even in his latest whiny statement.”

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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