Governor Jerry Brown has apparently had a change of heart and has agreed to one–and, thus far, only one–debate of the 10 that have been proposed by his Republican challenger Neel Kashkari.
The hour-long September 4 debate is reportedly the only one Brown will accept from Kashkari, according to Brown’s spokesman Dan Newman, notes the Sacramento Bee. It will take place in Sacramento at the California Channel’s studios.
Brown is so far leading Kashkari at the polls and infundraising, by wide margins. Kashkari’s request for 10 debates mirrors a similar requestmade by Brown just four years ago against Meg Whitman, which he citedas a move he needed to make due to his financial disadvantage compared to that of the ex-Ebay CEO’s.
KQED, which first reported news of the debate, noted that it will be produced jointly with the Los Angeles Times, the California Channel, and Telemundo California. Telemundo will reportedly be broadcasting a translated version of the debate in Spanish throughout major media markets, notes the Bee.
According to his website, Kashkari has accepted five debate invitations from the Bee, KGTV-TV and KPBS-TV in San Diego, Univision, KSEE/KGPE in Fresno, and KFBK in Sacramento.
The Bee notes that Brown has declined debates from the Bee, KCRA, Capital Public Radio and California State University, Sacramento; all of which had sponsored his debate against Whitman in 2010.