Yesterday Jonathan visited the New York State Fair in Syracuse where he enjoyed the sausage and greeted fair visitors.

Senator Clinton and President Bill Clinton were also at the fair and were dogged by a mysterious chicken.

The chicken received a lot of attention, even warranting its own security detail from the Clinton campaign.

On another note, there've been two great audio pieces on Tasini lately. If you missed the WNYC interview you can listen here.

Jonathan also did a podcast interview with Shelly Linaya (Citizen Against Lies). Click here to listen to the podcast.

NEW YORK, NY – Democratic Senate candidate Jonathan Tasini called on media outlets to withhold endorsement of any candidate who refuses to participate in public debates.

“Media outlets play the important role of informing voters of their choices,” said Tasini. “If incumbents make it a practice of refusing to participate in debates, resulting in their cancellation, than voters lose the opportunity to make fully informed decisions based hearing from incumbent and challenger candidates. Our media outlets should take the initiative to ensure that voters are informed by refusing to endorse any candidate who refuses to participate in public debates.”

See Daily News story

NEW YORK, NY – According to the Daily News, tomorrow is the last day Senator Clinton has to accept the invitation from the League of Women Voters to participate in the Democratic Senate Debate. The debate was originally scheduled for next Wednesday, September 6th, but Senator Clinton has so far declined to participate. The League of Women Voters debate was the only debate scheduled for the Democratic Senate primary.

“I accepted the League’s offer immediately because of the League’s long history of working to ensure that voters were fully informed about the issues. The League is the gold standard for our democracy. Yet, Senator Clinton continues to disrespect the League and the voters of New York by dodging the debate and hiding behind her political machine and public relations consultants. There is still time for voters to benefit from an open, democratic discussion of the issues facing New York voters. All we need is an incumbent who respects the voters and respects democracy.”

Yesterday the New York Times featured a front page article about the growing disparity between real wages and worker productivity. (The Times also editorialized about “Falling Paycheck” in today’s paper.)

The article said that:

The median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. The drop has been especially notable, economists say, because productivity — the amount that an average worker produces in an hour and the basic wellspring of a nation’s living standards — has risen steadily over the same period.

Tasini joined by Elaine Brower (speaking at mike), Mimi Evans (at left), and Missy Beattie whose family members fought or are currently fighting in Iraq, call on Senator Clinton to debate the war. more photos

If you missed the press conference, but want to hear news coverage, tune into the evening news on WNYC, RNN (Time Warner Channel 19), or NY1.

PRESS RELEASE:
FAMILIES OF IRAQ WAR SOLDIERS CALL ON CLINTON TO DEBATE TASINI

NEW YORK, NY – Democratic Senate candidate Jonathan Tasini was joined by families of U.S. soldiers at a press conference today on the steps of City Hall to call on Senator Clinton to agree to debate Tasini before the September 12 Democratic primary. Missy Beattie, Elaine Brower and Mimi Evans who spoke at the press conference all have family members who have fought or are currently fighting in the war in Iraq. Missy Beattie’s nephew was killed in the Iraq war. Mimi Evans has two sons who fought in Iraq and are now back safely in the U.S. Elaine Brower has a son who is currently fighting in Iraq.