The first debate is scheduled in what is expected to be a spirited race for Virginia’s open U.S. Senate seat.
Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican George Allen — the frontrunners for their respective parties — agreed to a Dec. 7 debate hosted by the Virginia AP Managing Editors and the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The debate will coincide with Associated Press Day at the Richmond Capitol.
Other declared candidates are eligible to participate if they average 15 percent or better in published, non-candidate primary polls and raise at least 20 percent as much money as their party’s frontrunner by Oct. 31. According to campaign finance reports from June 30, none of the other contenders fit that profile and few published polls have included them.
Kaine and Allen have each raised more than $2 million by the June mark and likely have brought in much more in the months since. The next round of reports is due Oct. 15.
Journalist Bob Gibson will moderate the 90-minute debate. Gibson is executive director of the nonpartisan Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia.
Kaine and Allen are both former governors and have been virtually tied in the polls for months. Kaine also served as the President Obama’s chairman for the Democratic National Committee. Allen is hoping to win back the Senate seat he lost to Sen. Jim Webb in 2006.
Webb, a Democrat, announced earlier this year he would not seek a second term.
