Jerry Moran and Todd Tiarht will finally meet, face-to-face, during the duo’s first of three scheduled debates tonight in Topeka. The Topeka NBC affiliate will be hosting the debate, along with The McPherson Sentinel and Topeka Capital-Journal, and will air the debate live starting at 6 p.m. tonight. The debate will be re-aired at 11:30 p.m. Sunday on the Wichita NBC affiliate station.
Tonight’s debate will surely set the tone for the second and third go-arounds, which are scheduled for next week in Wichita. Tiahrt is expected to come out swinging- no point in holding back now- but Moran’s response is still in question. Thus far, he has played the responder. Deflecting and turning around attacks from Tiahrt. Tonight will be his opportunity to take a punch but we think he’s better off playing the nice guys. Tiahrt has received a slew of criticism for his negative campaigning and attack ads.
The debate sponsors have collected questions from viewers so the topics of tonight’s event are unknown but will probably vary from what we hear in the following Wichita debates. The back-and-forth between the two candidates, which have only countered via television and E-mail, will surely be interesting and hopefully it will stay on topic and off the unnecessary extras.
Prairie Politics 
I’m looking forward to this debate. I believe it will be nobleman Moran winning over thug Tia-noheart.
Mostly I’m thinking there isn’t a huge difference in the platform between the two candidates, so the “win” will probably go to the person who exudes the most charisma.
Posted by backroadsnewsroom | July 6, 2010, 12:58 pmThe biggest surprise here is that Jerry Moran may actually show up for a debate.
Name-calling gets you nowhere.
Posted by Caleb | July 6, 2010, 1:12 pmI’ll be really surprised if Jerry actually shows up! If he does, we’ll see if he can keep his cool. He seems to get a little shaken when confronted on the issues.
Posted by pinkelephant22 | July 6, 2010, 1:43 pmCaleb and pinkelephant22 need to be prepared to be surprised. He’ll be there… duh.
Your comments are laughable and show a disconnect with the way things work in Kansas. Is this a reflection of your man Tiahrt?
Posted by backroadsnewsroom | July 6, 2010, 1:50 pm“a disconnect with the way things work in Kansas.” ?
Tell that to the organizers of the seven other debates to which he hasn’t shown up, including the ONLY debate in Southeast Kansas, where he told organizers it wasn’t a big enough media market.
Posted by Caleb | July 6, 2010, 3:18 pmSo you’re saying if my newspaper, the Washington County News, were to host a debate – the only one in North Central Kansas – I should expect all candidates to show up? And if they don’t, I can’t get mad and say they’re ignoring my region?
Gosh. I better get on that.
Posted by backroadsnewsroom | July 6, 2010, 3:24 pmIt’s more than that, and you know it.
Refusal of the Moran campaign to return phone calls about anything to do with debates in our part of the state? Now that’s a disconnect.
Kansas is more than just Wichita, Topeka, and KC.
Candidates that focus on those three areas are disconnected with the rest of Kansas.
Posted by Caleb | July 6, 2010, 3:29 pmI would agree with you 100 percent on that last comment.
I felt that was what hurt Barnett when he ran for governor. He could barely find his way off I-70 and I-35.
It bothers me to no end that this election basically boils down to what Johnson County’s significant population base thinks.
Posted by backroadsnewsroom | July 6, 2010, 3:33 pm