[img_assist|nid=1027|title=Ed O'Reilly (D-Gloucester)|desc=Campaign Photo|link=none|align=right|width=144|height=180]UPDATED: Ed O'Reilly blasted the format of his debate with U.S. Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday, saying that the senator set the rules and that they are an "insult" to Bay State voters.

"I do not believe democracy should be a spectator sport," O'Reilly said in a statement. "John Kerry has set all of the terms relative to the upcoming debate and the public is not only being excluded from participating, but people are being prohited [sic] from even attending." 

According to a statement entitled "Mockery of Democracy" distributed by the O'Reilly camp, O'Reilly and Kerry will tape their debate Friday at 10 a.m. and it will run Sunday at 8:30 a.m.

O'Reilly, a Gloucester attorney, is challenging Kerry in this year's Democratic primary on Sept. 16. On July 25, O'Reilly proposed debates in each of the Bay State's 14 counties, every University of Massachusetts campus and on four television networks. On August 22, Kerry agreed to a debate hosted by political analyst Jon Keller on WBZ-TV.

O'Reilly said the format of the debate is unacceptable because voters will not be able to question the candidates.

"The terms set by Sen. Kerry are an insult to the voters of Massachusetts and I call upon Sen. Kerry to enter debates that are open to the public and where ordinary people can ask questions," O'Reilly said. "Democracy and the election process is meant to be inclusive and not exclusive."

The Kerry camp fired back, saying that O'Reilly is shifting his position.

"The only mockery here is Ed O'Reilly," said Brigid O'Rourke, Kerry's spokeswoman. "For weeks he kept saying ‘all I want is a yes or a no' on whether Sen. Kerry would debate him. He got his ‘yes' and now that's not good enough. After agreeing to a debate in writing, he is now moving the goalposts. He knew the parameters of the debate before he agreed to do it -- and now that's not good enough either."

O'Rourke also noted that the finalized rules of the debate were set by Keller and WBZ-TV, not Kerry.

"If O'Reilly has a problem with [the rules]," O'Rourke said, "he shouldn't have agreed to the debate and to the format. This is just a final act of desperation for a desperate candidate using the classic last-minute ‘do-anything' and ‘say-anything' strategy."

An earlier version of this story stated the time of the debate's air time listed in the in O'Reilly campaign's press release. The correct air time is 8:30 a.m.