Doug Hoffman, the Conservative candidate for the 23rd Congressional District, made good on his promise to not attend a scheduled public debate that has assumedly just started in Plattsburgh.

So, what is Mr. Hoffman doing right now that precluded him from joining his two opponents, Republican Dede Scozzafava and Bill Owens, the Democrats' candidate at SUNY Plattsburgh?

"We're doing things," said Rob Ryan, his spokesman.

Where is he?

"Right now, he's sitting in a car," his spokesman said.

Where is he going? Mr. Ryan won't say, although we know he's heading away from Plattsburgh - where he was less than four hours ago.

What will he be doing instead of the debate? The spokesman said he'll be talking to Republicans who are preparing to defect from Ms. Scozzafava's campaign.

UPDATE: A reader tipped me off that Mr. Hoffman will be attending a 7 p.m. "town hall" telephone conference call organized by the New York State Right to Life Committee. As I understand it, Mr. Hoffman will talk first, and then callers who have a question can depress a key and enter a queue. A total guess - but that means Mr. Hoffman is probably in Saranac Lake or Lake Placid right now.

For Mr. Hoffman's sake, I hope that room is full - because he'll need a lot of people to counter those who are disappointed or angered by his decision to duck the campaign's only scheduled public debate.

North County Public Radio will air the debate at 7 p.m. tonight, with rebroadcasts at 11 a.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Sunday. My thanks to them for bringing the debate to all of us.

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