Who will this hurt more in the end?

In the 45th district, where Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet (D) is offering perhaps the toughest challenge yet to Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R), the top newspaper in the district, the Palm Springs Desert Sun, has started a regular feature where it is asking the candidates to weigh in with their opinions on various issues of the day.

But so far, Bono Mack has refused to participate.

In mid-May, the newspaper asked the two candidates to submit 150 words on why they are running in 2010. A few days ago, the candidates were asked to discuss what they would do with the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Pugnet is responding to the requests, but Bono Mack’s people are telling the newspaper that she is too focused on her official duties to respond.

Does Bono Mack look unresponsive by not participating in the newspaper’s feature? Does Pougnet run the risk of exposing himself by offering answers that Republicans could potentially use against him, while Bono Mack seems prudent by keeping her mouth shut? Or is it the newspaper’s editors who look foolish by keeping alive a feature that isn’t working out exactly as they had planned?