Nelson, Scott still trading insults, barbs

If you wanted to see U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott debate the issues, you are out of luck.

CNN canceled the second and final Florida Senate debate because the candidates couldn’t agree on a date.

Telemundo 51 sponsored the first debate, which was broadcast Oct. 2 across the state in Spanish and had a limited English-speaking audience. It aired in English on C-SPAN and is available for streaming in English online.

While the candidates won’t be debating again, they aren’t refraining from name calling.

Scott, a two-term, termlimited Republican governor, coined a nickname for his Democratic opponent — “Lyin’ Bill.”

“He’s decided to lie about being a debate dodger,” a campaign email read.

Nelson countered that Scott is the one dodging the debate and released a new ad blaming the governor for algae blooms closing beaches, concluding, “We can’t trust Red Tide Rick.”

The candidates postponed the Oct. 16 CNN debate because of Hurricane Michael. Scott wanted to do the debate on Thursday. Nelson wanted it on Monday so it could be broadcast before Floridians began casting their ballots en masse for inperson early voting, which kicks off

Florida.

At the first debate, Scott sought to brand Nelson a donothing senator, while Nelson questioned whether Scott had integrity.

In the governor’s race, Republican nominee Ron DeSantis Monday in South will face off against Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum in a debate that will be aired at 8 p.m. Sunday on CNN.

The candidates will meet again Wednesday night in a debate in Davie that will be aired on local stations.

Nearly 800,000 vote-bymail ballots have already been submitted, according to the state’s Division of Elections.