'Chicken' Kari Lake scorched by Arizona columnist for fleeing debate

Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is taking heat from a local columnist for ducking out of a debate with Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who is running against Lake to be the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in the Grand Canyon State.

Writing at AZCentral.com, columnist Laurie Roberts says that Lake appears "chicken" for not debating Lamb, whom she says offers Republican primary voters a real alternative.

"Apparently, she’s worried that she won’t come off all that well if voters realize they have an actual choice in the July 30 primary," wrote Roberts, who has for years taken shots at Lake for spouting false claims about the election she lost in 2022. "She’s probably right."

Roberts adds that Lamb offers GOP voters much of what they want on policy but without the conspiracy theories that have dogged her political career and alienated key voters.

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"Lamb, like Lake, is a staunch conservative from the party’s MAGA wing but with a key difference," she writes. "He’s actually won a pair of elections, having declined to lambast more moderate Republicans as RINOs and doormats and gold diggers and such. While Lake was laser focused on stolen elections and that celebrated stake she drove through the hearts of McCain Republicans, Lamb was a law-and-order sheriff laser focused on that hunk of Swiss cheese we call a border."

Roberts also notes that Lake famously accused Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs of being "chicken" by refusing to debate her, which she says is ironic given her current refusal to debate Lamb.

"Now, just two short years later, look who’s cowering in her stilettos," Roberts concludes. "I, for one, am fairly speechless at the absolute disrespect to Republican primary voters. Well, there are three words: Buc buc, Bwaawk."