By Richard Ruelas | Arizona
In what will likely be their only face-to-face discussion of policy issues before the Republican primary election, Gov. Doug Ducey and his challenger, former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, exchanged polite verbal jabs Friday during a meeting with The Arizona Republic editorial board.
The two discussed the fate of the U.S. Senate seat held by John McCain, who is fighting brain cancer. It is the issue that Ducey had said invalidated Bennett as a candidate and made him unworthy of a debate.
Ducey has declined to debate Bennett at two forums next week: one co-hosted by The Republic andArizona PBS, and another sponsored by the Clean Elections Commission.
Bennett, in a Tweet sent in May, said that he would not appoint Cindy McCain, the wife of Arizona’s senior senator, to the seat should it become vacant.
Ducey reiterated on Friday that Bennett’s remark was out of bounds.
