ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609300069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
Virginians who haven't yet settled on their favorite Warner in this year's U.S. Senate contest can reap a little unadulterated insight tonight, as both candidates appear in a live, televised forum.
Held at The College of William and Mary's University Center, the debate will feature Democrat Mark Warner and Republican John Warner fielding questions from panels of ordinary Virginians from across the state - including a group of a half-dozen voters beamed in from the Roanoke studios of public television station WBRA.
Ken Bode, host of "Washington Week in Review," will be moderator.
It will not be the candidates' first head-to-head meeting. Both appeared at a Virginia Bar Association forum this summer.
But with the Nov. 5 election just more than a month away, and incumbent John Warner finishing this year's session on Capitol Hill, the debate should kick-off an all-out stump to Election Day.
And for all the news media attention and partisan advertising the campaign will spawn, tonight's debate could be one of the Warners' best hopes for bending the voters' resolve.
When the independent Media Studies Center polled voters about the presidential campaign earlier this month, citizens made clear their most trusted source of information about candidates - live debates, unfiltered by the news media.
Sunday's debate will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on all of Virginia's public television stations (Channel 15 in Roanoke). It also will be simulcast on several Virginia radio stations. The event is sponsored by public television, along with The Roanoke Times and its sister paper in Norfolk, The Virginian-Pilot, who helped recruit the voters who will serve as panelists.
The Senate program will be followed at 9 p.m. by a live debate among congressional leaders, broadcast from the floor of the colonial House of Burgesses in Williamsburg.
The participants will be House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, both Republicans, and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, both Democrats.
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB