Didier, Akers join forces, but still vying for Senate nomination

Republican U.S. Senate candidates Clint Didier and Paul Akers made an unusual announcement Thursday — they will be joining forces for the campaign, setting aside the fact they are competing on the ballot for the same seat.

The two anti-establishment candidates said they would start doing joint radio ads and talking in joint online forums. Both said they are upset at the political establishment — a not-too-subtle dig at Republican front-runner Dino Rossi, who was recruited by national Republican leaders. Didier and Akers said the political establishment is trying to control the election.

While a weaker candidate sometimes drops out of a race to help a stronger candidate win more votes, it's unusual for two candidates to join forces and both stay in the race.

"To my knowledge, no one has ever done this before," said Akers during an online radio broadcast. "We are innovators, to say the least."

Both candidates also challenged Rossi to a debate, saying the issues needed to be aired.

Rossi spokeswoman Jennifer Morris said that if all the candidates — including Democratic incumbent Patty Murray — were participating, the campaign would consider it. She stopped short of saying Rossi wouldn't participate in a Republican-only debate.

The candidates had been touting Thursday's "important" announcement in advance, but the evening hardly went to plan.

The candidates had invited people to hear the announcement at a live evening town hall, either by dialing a call-in number or by going online to a blog radio site. But both options failed at first. Frustrated listeners could be heard cursing in what was later described as a "complete phone system crash."

When Didier was finally able to get onto blog radio nearly an hour late, he made light of the situation, comparing it to his time in the NFL — saying you never could predict what kind of defense a team like Chicago might throw up, but you overcame such adversity.

The two candidates did manage to get together on the online blog radio for enough time to make their announcement — but after about 10 minutes, and without warning, that site also went dead.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com