October 31, 2008 by Peter Leyden
McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin pulled out of a Wired-New America Foundation tech policy event at the last minute on Thursday. Holtz-Eakin (who gained fame as the person who claimed McCain was responsible for the Blackberry) was supposed to debate Obama adviser and former FCC chairman Reed Hundt on the technology policy differences between the two candidates, which are stark. The last minute move caused some controversy, particularly after Think Progress reported that Holtz-Eakin was seen giving a MSNBC TV interview at the same time as the debate.
Hundt did go ahead with the event and laid out the many ways that the two candidates differ. He also answered many questions on tech topics that, as the sponsors said at the beginning, received remarkably little attention during the campaign. It probably would have been as lopsided an event even if Holtz-Eakin showed up. He wouldn’t have had much to talk about given McCain’s record. You can see the whole event for yourself in the video above.
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