Decision 2010: Before You Vote, a projected created jointly by the group Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association, announced this morning that they will sponsor debates on back to back nights between Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene on August 10, followed the next night with a debate between Republican gubernatorial candidates Bill McCollum and Rick Scott, both taking place from Orlando.
The debates will be aired in the Tampa Bay area by WFTS-Channel 28 in Tampa (the ABC affiliate).
However, don't write down that GOP debate in pen just yet. Event organizers say Rick Scott has yet to confirm.
While it would be unfair to say that Scott, running for public office for the first time, is reluctant to debate, he has consistently resisted efforts by McCollum to engage on one-on-one battles. Part of that could be attributed to the fact that talking by himself on television ads has worked like a charm for Scott, boosting him into the lead in recent polls against the much more experienced (critics would say too experienced) McCollum.
Meek and Greene have debated only one time, a fierce and engaging 90 minute session from the offices of the Palm Beach Post last month, that unfortunately was only seen by those in attendance and others watching the two on an internet feed that was shown on the Post's website.
Meanwhile the Greene camp is staying low to the ground on providing any insights as to why campaign manager Josh Morrow resigned yesterday.
Morrow will be replaced by Jessica Vanden Berg,
Vanden Berg worked for both Bob Graham and then Wesley Clark's presidential campaigns in 2004. She's also worked for Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Virginia's Jim Webb's campaigns in 2006.
This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2010.