More Debates in Iowa? Ron Paul Won't Attend Trump's 'Circus'

If the Iowa debate schedule seems suddenly unsettled, there's good reason: It is.

This may be why some people refer to election time as "silly season."

Donald Trump is supposedly hosting a Dec. 27 debate sponsored by Newsmax, the conservative magazine and web site. Newsmax says the debate will be held in Des Moines, but don't count on that just yet; the only candidate to respond so far has been Ron Paul, whose campaign not only said no way, but took a slap at The Donald in the process.

Should Ron Paul attend the proposed Trump debate? Tell us in comments below.

Then there's an alleged Lincoln-Douglas, one-on-one debate between Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. No date has been set for that meeting, which hasn't stopped Santorum from accepting.

He accepted an offer Friday on Fox News Channel's "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren. The debate, organized by TheIowaRepublican.com, was organized after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney refused to debate Gingrich in a Human Events/RedState debate in Washington, D.C. 

Contacted over the weekend, though, Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond hadn't seen Santorum's acceptance for the debate and had no comment.

That was a lot less fun than Ron Paul's response to the proposed Trump debate. Paul's national campaign chairman, Jesse Benton, issued a statement making it clear that while Trump may be hair, Paul will not be here.

Here's the statement:

“The Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee rejects the selection of Donald Trump as moderator for the Republican presidential debate to be held on Dec. 27 in Iowa. We have conferred with our Iowa campaign chairman Drew Ivers and vice-chairmen David Fischer and A.J. Spiker who are all (Republican Party of Iowa) state central committee members, and they concur with this decision.

“The selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will be watching is beneath the office of the presidency and flies in the face of that office’s history and dignity. Mr. Trump’s participation as moderator will distract from questions and answers concerning important issues such as the national economy, crushing federal government debt, the role of the federal government, foreign policy, and the like. To be sure, Mr. Trump’s participation will contribute to an unwanted circus-like atmosphere.

"Mr. Trump’s selection is also wildly inappropriate because of his record of toying with the serious decision of whether to compete for our nation’s highest office, a decision he appeared to make frivolously. The short-lived elevation of Mr. Trump’s stature as a candidate put him on the radar of many organizations and we recall that last spring he was invited to keynote the Republican Party of Iowa’s annual Reagan Dinner, yet at the last minute he left RPI holding the bag by canceling. In turn, RPI canceled its biggest fundraising gala of the year and suffered embarrassment and in addition RPI was required to engage in refunding measures.

“Our candidate will not even consider participating in the late-December debate until Mr. Trump publicly apologizes to Iowa party leaders and rectifies in full the situation. Therefore our candidate, Ron Paul, the champion of the Constitution, has advised he will not attend.”