Hurricane Sandy causes more debate tension in Senate race

Damage from Hurricane Sandy left more than debris in its wake, as a debate fallout between Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Sen. Scott Brown leaves voters without a fourth and final political match for the public.

After both Brown and his Democratic opponent agreed not to participate in the final televised debate, Brown pulled out of the debate because of other scheduling issues.

Colin Reed, Brown’s communications director, said in an email statement that it is unfortunate that nature intervened in a way both campaigns agreed made the debate inappropriate.

“With only days remaining in the campaign, and with a long-planned bus tour kicking off Thursday through Election Day that will take Scott Brown to every corner of the Commonwealth, our calendar simply cannot accommodate a rescheduling of this fourth debate and the planning and preparation that would go into it,” Reed said.

The action prompted a negative reaction from the Warren campaign, which agreed to reschedule the debate for Thursday.

“We’ve been working with the consortium of media organizations throughout this process on scheduling the debate,” said Warren campaign spokeswoman Julie Edwards in an email.

Mindy Myers, Warren’s campaign manager, said in an email statement that Brown does not want to have to talk about his record.

“Unfortunately but not surprisingly, Scott Brown is again ducking questions about his record voting on the side of big oil and billionaires and against equal pay for equal work, against a pro-choice Supreme Court Justice and against insurance coverage for birth control,” Myers said.

Both candidates visited Scituate and other areas affected by the hurricane on Tuesday.

Reed said in a statement released Monday that Brown had chosen to drop out of the final debate to focus on the recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy.

“The Scott Brown campaign today announced that out of concern for the hardship faced by people in the path of Hurricane Sandy that he will not be participating in tomorrow’s fourth and final debate,” Reed said in a statement.

The campaign said it would be “inappropriate” to continue with the debate, which was scheduled to take place Tuesday night at WGBH studios in front of a live audience.

“The focus for all of us before, during and after the storm needs to be on emergency response and disaster relief, not campaigns and politics,” Reed said.

The Warren campaign echoed this sentiment in a statement released Tuesday, in which Myers said their “focus over the next 48 hours must be on public safety and holding the utilities accountable for restoring power as soon as possible.”

The Warren campaign stated the debate should still go on and that they were working with the debate organizers to reschedule, possibly for Thursday.

Hurricane Sandy has caused “significant” damage in the state and left more than 235,000 residents without power, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s website.

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, as well as Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maine, also cancelled campaign activities.

Some Boston University students said the public deserves a final debate, as they offer voters a chance to see where the candidates really stand on issues, without editing or a press barrier.

“It’s important because you get to see them without any prepared statements,” said Nicole Briguet, a sophomore in the College of Communication.

Samantha Marquez, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the importance of debates varies with different people.

“It’s important for undecideds, but if you know your political party and you agree with the stances of the party’s candidate, then it’s not as important,” she said.

Ally Slaney a sophomore in the College of General Studies who has already voted in Massachusetts, said she did not really know the candidates very well.

“I knew about Scott Brown from when he ran last time,” Slaney said. “But all I knew about Elizabeth Warren was from a friend who went to her rally on campus.”