Mary Fallin absent from some Oklahoma gubernatorial forums

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The six candidates vying to be Oklahoma's next governor are campaigning at a near-frenzied pace as the primary race enters its final weeks, dutifully greeting voters and answering their questions at town hall meetings, panel discussions and forums across the state.

But one of the campaign's front-runners has been conspicuously absent from several recent high-profile forums sponsored by The Oklahoma Academy.

Where's Mary?

U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, the presumptive favorite in the four-candidate race for the Republican nomination for governor, has skipped each of four gubernatorial forums sponsored by the nonpartisan policy group, including one on Wednesday where her absence was noted by one of two Democrats seeking their party's nomination.

"You deserve to have the candidates come before you and answer your questions," Democratic Attorney General Drew Edmondson told a crowd of more than 150 students, voters and campaign workers during the forum at Lawton's Cameron University.

Alex Weintz, a spokesman for Fallin's campaign, said Fallin notified forum organizers in advance that she could not attend because she would be in Washington, D.C., attending to her duties as a member of Congress.

"She was in Washington doing the job she was elected to do," Weintz said. "She can't abandon her post."

But her rivals said Fallin has managed to make it back to the state for other campaign-related activities while Congress was in session, including fundraisers and to be seen with GOP luminaries like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a likely 2012 presidential candidate who campaigned with her in Oklahoma City on June 22.

Edmondson said there is "no excuse" for Fallin to avoid addressing voter concerns.

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