C-SPAN WILL AIR SENATORIAL DEBATE

Southeast Missouri residents will be able to view Sunday's debate between U.S. Senate candidates John Ashcroft and Mel Carnahan, but not on local live television.

C-SPAN may air it later that night. At the very least, it will be shown one day next week, said Sara Sicks, associate producer for the cable channel in Washington, D.C.

"We are certainly going to carry it," Sicks said Tuesday. It may air at 8 p.m., immediately following the hour-long debate, but the program schedule should be finalized by Thursday.

C-SPAN is carried on cable systems throughout the region.

The Ashcroft-Carnahan debate, to be held in Kansas City, Mo., is one of two heavyweight political debates scheduled for Sunday evening. The other is the gubernatorial debate between Democrat Bob Holden, Missouri state treasurer, and Republican Congressman Jim Talent in Springfield.

Both debates will be carried on Missouri public television stations in Kansas City and Springfield. But the public television station in St. Louis, KETC, Channel 9, won't broadcast either of the hour-long debates and plans to run taped 30-minute shows on each contest instead.

The cable system in Perryville, Mo., carries both KETC and WSIU.

"We're trying to spare our viewers from the jabs and attacks and retreats" that characterize debates, said KETC content director Patrick Murphy. "There's some question in the value of debates and whether they inform viewers."

Carbondale, Ill., public television station WSIU-TV, which serves the Southeast Missouri region, currently doesn't plan to carry the debates, although there is a possibility it could carry the Senate debate. WSIU plans to carry an Illinois congressional candidates' debate at 7 p.m. Sunday.

St. Louis public radio station KWMU plans to carry the two Sunday debates live, but KRCU, the public radio station in Cape Girardeau, has no plans to carry the debates.

Holden and Talent's first debate was last month at Southeast Missouri State University and was broadcast live on KFVS-TV, channel 12, and several radio stations.

KFVS tried to arrange a debate between Ashcroft and Carnahan at Southeast Missouri State University, but the negotiations fell through earlier this month when the two candidates couldn't reach agreement on a date.

Mike Beecher, news director for KFVS, said the Cape Girardeau station has no plans to air Sunday's debate.

"We have not been offered the program and, to the best of my knowledge, we haven't inquired," he said.

Southeast Missourian's best bet at hearing a senatorial debate could be at 2 p.m. on Friday. Carnahan and Ashcroft plan to hold a radio debate at the studios of KMOX in St. Louis, and it also will be heard live on KZIM radio station in Cape Girardeau.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.