Gubernatorial debate in Cedar Rapids; U.S. Senate and House debates in the works

It was good to hear today (Tuesday, Aug. 10) that the campaigns of Republican challenger and former Gov. Terry Branstad and incumbent Democratic Gov. Chet Culver have accepted an invitation by The Gazette and KCRG-TV9 to debate in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 7, at 7 p.m.

They'll debate in Sioux City and Johnston, too. The Sioux City debate will be sponsored on a date to be determined by Lee Enterprises newspapers and KCAU-TV. The Johnston one will be an noon Oct. 21 and be sponsored by the Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television.

Branstad's campaign called me just before sending a news release about Branstad's agreement to participate and the Culver campaign told reporters, including James Q. Lynch, who writes for The Gazette and other SourceMedia Group news outlets, that Culver will participate as long as the debates are open to the public.

Our debate will be open to the public. It will be at Coe College's Sinclair Auditorium. The Gazette and KCRG-TV9, working with web news and information outlets GazetteOnline.com and KCRG.com and Local 9.2 KCRG-TV, and Coe College were partners at Sinclair last fall for a Cedar Rapids mayoral debate and the facility worked well.

The gubernatorial campaigns sifted through several requests to host debates before today's announcement. We sent notes to all of the campaigns before the June primary, tossing out some dates for the winners to circle, and followed up with formal requests in letters mailed on June 21. The campaigns negotiated how many debates their candidates would appear in and then selected a spot from the east, central and west side of the state.

It was evident to me in the last week that the Cedar Rapids site was viewed favorably by both campaigns. Officials from both campaigns said they liked the central location for the east side of the state, the metropolitan setting, that a private college like Coe was involved and the fact that their candidate could talk near the site of a prime event still affecting this area -- the Great Flood of 2008. Also, Culver is from Cedar Rapids and both he and Branstad would like to have a good showing in the city and surrounding area.

The Gazette and KCRG-TV9 still are working with other campaigns, trying to nail down debates for their races. We're working with the U.S. Senate campaigns of incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley and Democratic challenger Roxanne Conlin for a debate Oct. 10 at Mount Mercy College, which is to become Mount Mercy University on Aug. 23.

Conlin's campaign says it is on board and we are hearing positive things from the Grassley campaign, although Grassley's campaign officials still are going through his schedule and determining whether to commit.

Like Coe with the gubernatorial debate, Mount Mercy is a splendid setting for such a high-level affair as a debate for a U.S. Senate seat.

The Gazette and KCRG-TV9 also are trying to pull together an Oct. 12 debate at the KCRG studios between the 2nd Congressional District candidates: Democratic

incumbent Dave Loebsack and Republican

challenger Mariannette Miller-Meeks. The Miller-Meeks campaign is good to go but I'm still waiting to hear from the Loebsack campaign. I'll give them a call on Wednesday.