It's one of those funny little things you get to see when you're a reporter: Two candidates send out press releases on the same thing at the same time, trying to beat each other to the punch.
That's what happened this morning. The Alice Kryzan and Jon Powers campaigns sent out press releases challenging their opponents to a series of debates, and both arrived in my e-mail inbox within a five-minute span. The candidates are engaged in a three-way Democratic primary for the 26th Congressional District - Jack Davis is the other candidate.
Both included some sort of proposed schedule, including some of the same dates: an August 31 forum on Buffalo's WBEN 930 and an already scheduled forum on September 2 at SUNY Geneseo. Kryzan wants a Monroe County debate. Powers proposes an August 18 televised debate in Greece.
What's important here isn't who gets credit for the debates; it's that the debates happen. There are a lot of important issues for the candidates to address and the public deserves to hear where the candidates stand.