‘Request Denied’: Independent Candidate Goes Off the Rails in Maine Sen. Debate, Ignores Moderator Questions

Independent candidate Max Linn went fully off-script during the Maine U.S. senate debate, shooting down moderator questions with a curt “request denied” and then complaining he would be judged by his answers.

Linn, who was one of four senate candidates, including incumbent GOP Senator Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, teeing off on Friday night, announced in his opening statement that he would not necessarily be answering the questions asked of him by the moderators. And he quickly proved true to his word — and threw the debate off the rails as he ignored the moderators and spoke far over his allotted time.

“How do you make sure everyone who needs health care and can afford it,” asked Rachel Ohm, an education and political reporter from the Portland Press-Herald.

“Rachel, that’s an excellent question, As I mentioned I have to be outside the box because I’m competing against $100 million, so I’m going to put your question aside and I have a bombshell to announce tonight,” Linn said, as someone off-camera chuckled.

“I would ask that you stick with the question,” Ohm broke in.

“Well, request denied,” Linn curtly replied, as Ohm grimaced. “I would like to say the eyes and ears and voices of people, we represent nature and the wilderness. And that brings me to the CMP corridor. How many people, up to 80,000 people…”

“Let me interrupt for a second, Mr. Linn, do you have any interest in health care?” moderator Pat Callaghan sharply cut in.

“Yes I do.”

“Then let’s talk about that and we can talk about other things later?” Callaghan offered.

“Request denied, again,” Linn shot back, before pivoting to compliment the moderators and apologizing for not answering the question. “Please realize,” Linn said, picking up his answer only to realize his time had run out on the original question. “Well I have not started my time, I am addressing this and you’re flashing me.”

“Well, that is the time allotted and that is how it was used.”

“Then let me ask for clarity. I’m competing against $100 million dollars here, OK? They are the front runners. In order for me to be that U.S. Senate candidate i have be out-of-the-box tonight…”

“And we need to know where you stand on the issues as well,” Callaghan pushed back.

“I have got to be different. As the moderator I want the question, but I don’t want to be judged on my answer,” Linn said, “The only people judging my answer are the Maine voters on November 3rd.”

“Max, now you are taking my time,” the other independent candidate, Lisa Savage, pointed out.

“Don’t interrupt me because I’m already fighting against $100 million,” Linn curtly replied to Savage. “I do not want to fight the moderators all night and part of my strategy is to be outside the box….”

Watch the video above, via C-SPAN.