Thursday, August 24, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006 The gubernatorial candidates will answer questions from the local press. By DAVID SKOLNICK VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER YOUNGSTOWN — The Vindicator and Vindy.com, the newspaper's Web site, will present the first gubernatorial debate between Democrat Ted Strickland and Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell on Sept. 5. The one-hour debate will start at noon and take place in the studio of WFMJ TV-21 on West Boardman Street. WFMJ will air the debate live, and WKBN and WYTV have the option of doing so as well. The candidates will answer questions from a panel of local media members. The event isn't open to the public. This is the first of four debates scheduled between Strickland, of Lisbon, a congressman whose district includes Columbiana County and a portion of Mahoning County, and Blackwell, of Cincinnati, a two-term secretary of state and former state treasurer. The details of the three other debates are still being ironed out but will be in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland — the state's three largest cities. Youngstown is by far the smallest city hosting a gubernatorial debate. The candidates have repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Mahoning Valley in the November general election. Their campaigns opted to hold a debate in Youngstown, bypassing larger cities including Dayton, Toledo and Akron. Background Polls show Strickland leading Blackwell by 4.6 percent to 22 percent. Strickland said in June that he would meet Blackwell any time in any place. Blackwell responded by releasing a schedule that month of five debate locations over a period of one week, and said at the time that more were forthcoming. Blackwell wanted the first debate between the two to be June 15 in Youngstown. He made a campaign stop that day in the city. Shortly after that, representatives from both camps met three times to determine the debate sites. The sites were announced July 6. Since then, the two sides have discussed the finer points of the four debates on a number of occasions. The two major party candidates' campaigns are not permitting Robert Fitrakis of Columbus and William S. Peirce of Mayfield Village, two independent gubernatorial candidates, to participate in any of the four debates. U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, a Cedarville Republican, and U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, of Avon, his Democratic challenger, will also participate in four debates. The first debate between DeWine and Brown is set for Oct. 1 on "Meet The Press," the NBC Sunday morning political show. The three other debates are set for Dayton, Toledo and Cleveland. skolnick@vindy.com