Our former colleague John Dougherty and the other three aspiring Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate are set to debate tonight up at Paradise Valley Community College.
The scheduled two-hour session (7-9 p.m.) will be held at the school's Center for the Performing Arts, and it promises to be a more in-depth look at where the quartet stands than the soundbitish half-hour debates that have aired around the state during the current campaign cycle.
Dougherty doesn't have a lot of money backing his effort, but his campaign seems to have struck a chord in some circles. On the other hand, Randy Glassman of Tucson has dropped tons of his own (family) money trying to win the thing.
Remains to be seen if the money talks.
The other two candidates are Cathy Eden and Randy Parraz.
Whoever does win the August 24 primary--just a few weeks away--will have an uphill struggle to truly compete against incumbent John McCain, a pathetically pandering prototype of a politician who seems to have misplaced his moral compass in his desperation for another six-year term.
McCain (assuming he bests the buffoon he's running against in the Republican primary) has got tons of money sitting there designed to ensure he wins "that danged" election.
We'd love to see Dougherty get the opportunity to go up against the old Navy war hero, but he's not there yet by a long shot (which is exactly what the grizzled longtime investigative reporter is).
Paradise Valley CC is at 18401 N. 32nd St. in Phoenix. The entrance to the Center for the Performing Arts is 34th Street and Union Hills Drive.
