Tiberi Apparently Some Sort of Prima Donna

I have no idea what to make of this story. The Liberty Voice is an independent paper published in Delaware County with a distinct Libertarian worldview and a growing distribution network. They have also been on fire lately with their opposition to the re-election efforts of Pat Tiberi. Some examples:

Pat Tiberi is endorsed by the Columbus Dispatch Printing Company

A Vote is an Endorsement

Last night, the publisher of The Liberty Voice attended the candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters, the Delaware Gazette, and the Farm Bureau. She intended to make a videorecording of the event to aid her in her reporting. This supposedly had not been a problem in previous forums held by the sponsors, but last night recording devices (even for the working press) were prohibited, a rule agreed to by all participating parties in advance. When the publisher of TLV made a stink, she was allowed to take her video for most of the evening, until it was time for Pat Tiberi to take the stage.

At which point Tiberi apparently refused to come out until all recording devices were shut down.

Tiberi has agreed to two head-to-head debates with David Robinson, including one on October 10th sponsored by 10tv/ONN (Dispatch Media Group) that will obviously be televised, so he can't be so camera-shy that the mere thought of appearing on video gives him the vapors. The press was there and allowed to take notes, so he wasn't planning on making some bizarre secret proposal. So what gives?

I can only think of two things, and both of them have to do with the fact that Congress was obviously in session in D.C. yesterday:

Possibility 1: Getting from the floor of the House to the Delaware Area Career Center in six hours (give or take) doesn't allow a whole lot of time for things like showering and shaving, let alone makeup application. Tiberi doesn't mind showing up like that in person, but heaven forbid the masses see him on a bad hair day.

Possibility 2: He had a long day. His advisers have been around him on a number of long days. The possibility of a Macaca Moment is just too high to risk. Ban the cameras.

Of course, there's the possibility that he was still too shaken by Nancy Pelosi's assault on his delicate sensibilities. Someone should ask him if he was one of the dozen Republican votes John Boehner said that Republican leadership believes "went south" due to hearing Pelosi's speechifying.