Congressman Steve King and Christie Vilsack Debate Tonight

While Iowa Congressman Steve King, R-Kiron, and Christie Vilsack couldn't settle on a debate in Ames, they will debate on the radio Thursday evening and again at the Clay County Fairgrounds on Saturday.

The WHO radio debate begins at 7 p.m. People can tune to 1040 am or listen online at: www.WhoRadio.com.

The candidates for Iowa's new 4^th District, King and Vilsack, had announced a debate to take place in Ames on Sept. 22, but King backed out of a media sponsored debate and the Story County Democrats and Vilsack will not agree to a Story County hosted debate.

Jan Bauer, Story County Democrats Chair, said before leaving for Charlotte that they wouldn't agree to co-host the debate since another debate had been set up by “highly respected non-partisan groups in the community.”

King's campaign backed out of a to be sponsored by the , Iowa State University and the Ames Chamber of Commerce because they didn't agree to the debate format in which panelists could pose questions. They instead wanted to try a Lincoln-Douglas debate format in which both candidates take turns arguing topics.

Vilsack's campaign said media sponsors had no interest in hosting that type of debate because they wanted to ask questions and Sam Roecker, Vilsack's spokesman, said Vilsack also wanted to allow questions.

“When was a Lincoln-Douglas debate held, anywhere? Congressman King seems to be playing games and it looks as though he had no intention of agreeing to a debate,” Bauer said.

King and his campaign said they felt the Lincoln-Douglas style debate is the most transparent form.

“I proposed the Ames debate from the beginning as a Lincoln/Douglas style debate for two reasons; this style presents the opportunity for the most neutral, transparent setting possible, and the Lincoln/Douglas debates have long been recognized as the most famous, effective, and fair in our nation's history,” King .

Judging by the scintillating campaign emails going back and forth between King and Vilsack any kind of debate between the pair should be enlightening.

Vilsack's campaign called King a liar “pants on fire” Wednesday for suggesting that Vilsack didn't really live in Ames according to an article printed in the Fort Dodge Messenger and King's campaign has put out several releases saying Vilsack ducks questions and has purposefully skipped out on President Barack Obama's appearances in efforts to appear more moderate.

While it looks like a debate in Ames is not to be. Vilsack and King do plan to debate again at the Clay County Fair and Iowa Lakes Corridor Media Debate in Spencer at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and in Mason City in October.