Melanie Morgan

**Written by Doug Powers

In July, a Los Angeles Times editorial urged Sen. Diane Feinstein to debate her Republican rival Elizabeth Emken. Polls show Feinstein maintaining anywhere from a 15 to 20 point lead on Emken, so there’s a better chance Jerry Brown will be convinced to scrap the Train to Nowhere than of Feinstein agreeing to a debate that she obviously believes would offer nothing but downside.

At the Democratic convention in Charlotte, a reporter asked Feinstein about her refusal to debate Emken, and Feinstein responded the way any comfortably entrenched incumbent would — she walked out on the question: