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The first joint appearance of the major party candidates for the Texas House District 17 seat in 2008 was canceled at the last minute after the Democratic nominee, Donnie Dippel, accused Kleinschmidt of reneging on a supposed campaign promise. Dippel chose not to take the stage at the forum after it had been reported to the Democratic candidate that a staffer for opponent's campaign was in the crowd with a video camera. Dippel's campaign claimed that both sides had agreed to a " stipulation against videotaping their opponents, to prevent clips from showing up in attack ads;" Kleinschmidt's camp, however, denied such a deal had been made. Organizers of the forum remarked that while Dippel had raised concerns about videotaping, it was never established in the ground rules for the debate.
