PICAYUNE — Dave Elliot of WLOX television, in response to an email from the Item, said this week that while fourth congressional GOP candidate Steven Palazzo of Biloxi has not actually “refused” to debate his opponent, GOP candidate Joe Tegerdine of Petal, a deadline for a commitment to a debate, May 13, has passed and Palazzo has not responded to a WLOX request.

Tegerdine, appearing at a fund-raiser in Picayune last week, said that Palazzo had reneged on a statement saying he would debate Tegerdine on WLOX.

Said Elliot, “I would not characterize it as ‘refused.’ Palazzo is trying to work it out in his schedule. Having said that, we gave them a Thursday, May 13th deadline, to accept the invitation and that deadline has passed.”

So as of Monday, it seems there will be no debate between Tegerdine and Palazzoo on television. But that could change with 15 days left till the election on June 1. There is still time.

Palazzo’s campaign director, Wells Griffith, last week, told the Item when queried about the matter that it was “not correct” that Palazzo had refused. However, Tegerdine’s supporters here this week were charging that that was the case, since Palazzo had missed a deadline of informing WLOX and has given no intention of plans to debate Tegerdine.

Tegerdine last week in Picayune, speaking to about 50 supporters at a fund-raiser at Paul’s Pastry, said he is willing to debate Palazzo “anytime, anywhere, especially on TV where everyone can see it.”

Tegerdine’s supporters here in Picayune this week said Tegerdine has accepted a date to appear on WLOX with Elliot for a Q&A session.

The Tegerdine camp was also preparing to reply to charges by Palazzo that Tegerdine works for a foreign corporation and has never voted in a presidential election here.

They said that the charges about the corporation he works for are not true and there is a legitiment explanation and reasons for his voting record.

Tegerdine has campaigned heavily in Pearl River Co. and has a strong grass-roots following here. His campaign director, Angela Hill, and other supporters have worked Pearl River Co. hard to establish a grass-roots support group for Tegerdine here.

Palazzo’s last appearance in Pearl River Co. was when he appeared with Tegerdine in an April 22 debate at Magnolia Arms in Picayune. Griffith said Palazzo was trying to return to Pearl River Co. this week.

The GOP primary election is June 1 and the winner will meet, on Nov. 2, incumbent Democrat Gene Taylor of Bay St. Louis, who has occupied the fourth district congressional seat for 20 years and has had during that time no credible opposition.

Taylor has been leery about making comments right now, preferring to wait till the dust clears in the GOP primary race.

The June 1 GOP primary is an open primary, which means that Republicans, Democrats and Independents can vote in the primary.

As far as we could determine no one has done any polling concerning the GOP June 1 primary race.

Tegerdine said last week here that he was not sure about the turnout, but he said he believes that he will win because he has been pushing a grass-roots effort for over a year in all the counties in the fourth district and is in good position.

 He said his campaign has over 700 volunteers working for him throughout the district, which takes in South Mississippi from south of a line drawn through Hattiesburg.

The state and national GOP organizations have said that they believe Taylor is “vulnerable” this year, that voters are upset with all incumbents. Taylor is known by the national media as a “Blue Dog Democrat,” that is a Southern conservative.

Since Palazzo filed to run against Tegerdine near the March 1 deadline, the two GOP candidates have mostly left Taylor alone and have zeroed in on each other.