Malloy Says Whitnum Should Not Be Allowed to Debate

About 90 minutes before a second debate was scheduled to begin at the UConn Storrs campus, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy reportedly said Monday that US Senate hopeful and fellow Democrat Lee Whitnum should not be allowed to participate future debates for the party nomination for the seat now held by , due to during last week's debate broadcast on NBC Connecticut.

During a televised debate that was broadcast Thursday, Whitnum sharply criticized Congressman Chris Murphy over his pro-Israel stance, saying, “I’m dealing with a whore here who sells his soul to AIPAC [The American Israel Public Affairs Committee], who will say anything for the job.”

Whitnum also referred to state representative William Tong as “ignorant” when he chimed in on the topic.

During a press conference on Monday in Hartford, Gov. Malloy — who recently filed a protective order against Whitnum, in connection with a lawsuit she brought against the governor for slander — said Whitnum is "on the fringe of the fringe and quite frankly should not be included in these debates," according to a report in the Greenwich Time.

"She has almost no support if any," Gov. Malloy said, according to the Greenwich Time report. "She has not run a real campaign as measured by the other primary candidates' performances, going to lots of city committees and town committees across the state, raising money and that sort of stuff."

A second debate is scheduled for .

Whitnum, who filed the lawsuit against Malloy in 2010, when he was still mayor of Stamford, alleges he damaged her reputation when he characterized comments she made during the 2008 Democratic primary between herself and now-Congressman Jim Himes about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as anti-Semitic.