FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 3, 2006 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Office: (801) 983-7383 *****PRESS RELEASE***** Ashdown Campaign Pledges Unveiled SALT LAKE CITY, UT--Democratic US Senate Nominee (UT) Pete Ashdown unveiled five campaign pledges today in a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Salt Lake City. Ashdown noted how his campaign pledges would be different from other elected officials' broken campaign promises by using his opposition to hold him accountable. Ashdown also commented on the current status of a debate with other Senate candidates. Ashdown's five pledges cover how he will act as a US Senator and fulfill his overall promise to make democracy democratic again. The pledges range from the general ("Democracy, Open and Honest Leadership, Fair Elections") to the specific ("Fiscal Responsibility" includes a Matheson-style pledge to forgo pay raises; "No Nuclear Testing" says no to testing in Nevada). Ashdown noted the failure of previous candidates, whether it was the Bennett and Cannon defunct term-limit pledges, or Senator Hatch's 1976 unfulfilled promise to resign if he votes for increases in Federal spending. To make these promises stick, Ashdown will send signed, notarized, copies to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Chairman of the Utah Republican Party, and several county Republican chairs in Utah (see attachment). "If I break one of these pledges, I want to be held accountable," Ashdown said. "I doubt the Republicans will have any trouble calling me on it if I am not forthright in keeping these promises." Ashdown also commented on the status of the debate challenge he has issued to all of the candidates in the race. Currently, Scott Bradley, Julian Hatch, and Roger Price have agreed to a debate in the Salt Lake City Main Library Auditorium on August 12, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Dave Star Seely cannot attend but will be represented by the Libertarian Party of Utah chairman Rob Latham. However, the Ashdown campaign has not received any correspondence in reply to the certified mail letter and PGP-signed email inviting Senator Hatch to debate. The US Postal Service has confirmed the letter has been delivered. There was a report late last night that the Hatch campaign is refusing to debate in August because (in a varied and circuitous explanation) the campaign season does not begin until after Labor Day. Ashdown condemned this in the press conference, noting "America's greatest political debates, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, began in August." The first Lincoln-Douglas US Senate debate was on August 21, 1858 in Ottawa, Illinois, according to the National Park Service Lincoln Home website. Ashdown noted that Hatch was only avoiding the debate in the name of political expediency, "that may help him win the election, but will not serve to inform the voters of Utah." This weekend, Ashdown will continue touring around the state, appearing in the Uintah Basin in Celebration Parade in Roosevelt and the Wasatch County Fair Parade in Heber City, on Saturday morning and afternoon, respectively.