GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE DETAILS WORKED OUT

Missouri gubernatorial candidates Bob Holden and Jim Talent will have their own cheering sections when they square off in a televised debate Monday night at Southeast Missouri State University.

Each of the candidates has been allocated 350 tickets for chairs closest to the stage in Academic Hall Auditorium, which seats 1,200. As of Friday afternoon, the Talent and Holden campaigns had handed out most of their tickets to supporters.

About 163 seats are reserved for university dignitaries and the news media, including seats that will be taken up with TV cameras. That number also includes some seating for the handicapped.

That leaves 337 seats -- 158 on the main floor and 179 in the balcony -- for the public on a first-come, first-serve basis, school officials said. Admission is free.

University spokeswoman Ann Hayes said the debate will feature four-minute opening statements by Talent, the Republican candidate, and Holden, the Democratic candidate.

Southeast student Travis Partney of Hillsboro, Mo., and KFVS anchorman Dave Courvoisier will serve as moderators. The two were chosen by the Holden and Talent campaigns from among five names submitted by the university, Hayes said. The list included two students chosen by Student Government, two from KFVS and one from the Southeast Missourian.

Talent will make the first opening statement. That was determined by a coin toss, Talent and Holden campaign officials said.

The candidates will alternate in answering questions. The candidate initially asked a question will get two minutes to reply, and then the other candidate will have one minute for a rebuttal.

At the end of the debate, each candidate will be allowed four minutes for a closing statement.

Dr. Tom Harte, speech professor emeritus at Southeast, will serve as timekeeper for the debate.

Harte said the debate won't be a true debate like the Lincoln-Douglas debates where the two candidates directly questioned each other. "It is a joint press conference really," he said.

But Harte said the structured format still allows for a clash of ideas.

A true, academic debate focuses on a single issue, he said. That isn't the case with political debates.

Harte gives both Talent and Holden credit for being willing to debate each other and let the public see them "thinking on their feet."

Said Harte, "When you are up there, even if there is only a minute to answer, that is a whole lot closer to real honest confrontation of ideas."

The hour-long debate will begin at 7 p.m. It will be televised live on KFVS-TV, Channel 12. Radio station KZIM will broadcast it live, as will KRCU in Cape Girardeau and other public radio stations in the Missouri cities of Springfield, Rolla and Columbia.

Doors to Academic Hall Auditorium will open at 6 p.m. University officials are requesting that people be in their seats by 6:45 p.m.

Parking will be available at the Dempster Hall and Henderson Street lots. Shuttle buses will provide transportation to Academic Hall, beginning at 5 p.m.

Hayes said the C-SPAN cable channel will receive a tape of the televised debate to air at a later date. Video of the debate will be available on the C-SPAN Web site.