Valley selected for governor's debate

Youngstown edged out larger cities such as Akron, Toledo and Dayton.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The gubernatorial campaigns of Democrat Ted Strickland and Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell decided the candidates will participate in four debates, including one in Youngstown.
The dates, locations, topics and formats of the debates have not been announced by the campaigns, but a Youngstown debate is definite.
The other debate locations are in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland -- Ohio's three largest cities in terms of population.
The two sides bypassed larger cities including Dayton, Toledo and Akron for Youngstown. The two candidates have repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Mahoning Valley in the November gubernatorial election.
Solving differences
The two sides bickered back and forth last month on the debates after Strickland, a U.S. House member from Lisbon, said he would meet Blackwell, of Cincinnati, any time in any place.
Blackwell, the Ohio secretary of state, took that statement literally and released a schedule last month of a list of five debate locations over a period of one week. Blackwell wanted the first debate between the two to be June 15 in Youngstown.
Representatives of the two candidates met three times over the past few weeks to determine the debate sites and schedule, according to a joint statement released Thursday by the Ohioans for Blackwell and Strickland for Governor campaigns.
"We believe our mutually agreed upon debate structure will help all Ohioans learn more about the candidates and the policy issues facing Ohio," the joint statement from the two camps read.