The excessively heated battle for a Tampa City Council seat continues to rage, but don't expect any sparks to fly at a debate set for tonight.

That's because it won't really be a debate, given that only one of the two candidates will actually be there.

A two-way debate was scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. on the Tampa Bay Community Network and streaming on the Web; Tampa Natives Show host Mario Nuñez was supposed to moderate and the League of Women Voters was supposed to sponsor it. Chris O'Donnell from The Tampa Tribune and Rich Danielson from The Tampa Bay Times were expected to ask the bulk of the questions.

But it probably won't shake out that way now.

The League has pulled out of the debate out of concern over Nunez's support of Guido Maniscaco, one of the candidates.

Jackie Toledo, Maniscalco's opponent, followed suit.

“I’m not going to have a debate that is a platform for attacks,” Toledo told the Trib's O'Donnell. “If we can find a place that is neutral ground, I would be more than happy.”

Nuñez said the party will go on regardless; Maniscalco and he will chat and it will be televised and streamed.

In a release sent out to media he expressed skepticism about Toledo's reluctance to debate.

"Jackie Toledo's excuse to not appear is without merit and very disingenuous. Jackie Toledo has preformed a tremendous disservice to the voters of Tampa and our community by refusing to face up to her opponent and the cameras, reporters, the especially the individual citizens and voters of the City of Tampa and District 6 who have and are continuing to email in their questions to the candidates and are deserved a response from the candidates who are asking for their vote," he wrote.

Indeed, this isn't the first time Toledo declined to debate Maniscalco. WMNF radio host and SaintPetersBlog reporter Mitch Perry offered to host a forum on his call-in show, which takes place Thursdays at noon. Toledo said she would be out of town for the first, and initially declined the second, Perry writes, because of prior plans. She was able to rearrange those plans, but canceled with Perry again because she was planning on participating in the League of Women.

Maniscalco, on the other hand, was game for all of the debate opportunities.

With only five days left until Tuesday's runoff, there probably won't be another chance for the two to have an actual debate on the issues, so voters will have little else to go on beyond baseless mudslinging when they go to the polls between now and 7 p.m. Tuesday, when polls close.

This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2015.