Senate debate should be a doozy

One week from tonight, the heated campaign battle between Sen. Jon Tester and Rep. Denny Rehberg will come to Kalispell for 90 minutes at Flathead Valley Community College.

The Daily Inter Lake is sponsoring this third debate between the candidates, and it promises to be a major event in one of the most hotly contested Senate races in the country. Democrat Tester and Republican Rehberg have gone after each other like “rock’em sock’em robots” — aided by millions of dollars of negative advertising provided by outside groups — and because control of the Senate could be at risk in the 2012 elections, the whole nation is paying attention.

I’m looking forward to asking questions at the debate, along with Flathead Beacon editor Kellyn Brown, and we hope that there will be considerable substance in the discussion along with — yes! — a few fireworks just to keep things interesting!

Our debate, like the first one of the season sponsored by the Montana Newspaper Association, will make room on the stage for Libertarian candidate Dan Cox. Two other debates are excluding Cox, but we consider his place on the ballot — as well as his potentially pivotal role in the race — to make him an important participant.

The Inter Lake’s publisher, Rick Weaver, will serve as moderator for the event, which will begin at 7 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 14. Tickets have already been distributed to the public by random drawing because of the limited size of the venue; however, the debate will be streamed live at www.dailyinterlake.com and will then be recorded and uploaded for later viewing as well. 

In addition, the Inter Lake is working with Northern Broadcasting and Yellowstone Public Radio to allow for tape-delayed radio broadcasts, as well as the Optimum cable company for a tape-delayed TV showing on local-access Channel 9.

It promises to be an enjoyable evening, and we are looking forward to it.

In the meantime, we are still working on our questions for the debate, so I encourage you to submit your ideas for topics of discussion or even particular questions you would like to hear the candidates answer. We won’t have time to ask all of them, but we will be happy to put them in the mix.

Send your ideas to me at edit@dailyinterlake.com