LANSING – A televised town hall-style debate between Governor Rick Snyder and his Democratic rival Mark Schauer will be held on Sunday, October 12, meaning the candidates will face off at least once in a televised event during the 2014 campaign.

The debate was announced late Monday, with a spokesperson for Schauer saying the event would provide Schauer the opportunity to show how he would build an economy that “works for everyone, not just those at the top.”

That was followed by Snyder’s spokesperson saying the event falls in line with the governor’s plan of holding 10 town halls across the state and will highlight his “optimistic message” of new jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in six years.

The agreement caught many by surprise when it appeared there might be no debate between the two candidates in this election. Schauer’s campaign had pounded Snyder for hesitating to agree to debates. Snyder’s campaign said it had agreed to one before the Detroit Economic Club (which Schauer said he could not attend), and Mr. Snyder said two weeks ago that it was possible debates might not be needed.

The event will be broadcast on Detroit Public Television, WTVS Channel 56 in the Detroit metro area, and the station is one of the sponsors of the event along with the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.

The live broadcast will start at 6 p.m. and will originate from the Wayne State University campus in Detroit. Detroit Public Television spokespeople said the debate will be available to all media outlets in the state to rebroadcast on their air or online.

Free Press editorial page editor Stephen Henderson and News editorial page editor Nolan Finley will co-moderate the event that will feature questions from audience members. Detroit Public Television anchor Christy McDonald will host the debate and handle the audience questions. Finley had recently written that the two camps were near an agreement on a debate.

Detroit Public Television spokespersons said the audience will consist of undecided voters selected by research firms hired by the News and Free Press.

During the 2010 election, Detroit Public Television also hosted a single debate between Snyder and his then challenger Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero.

Cathy Bacile Cunnigham, spokesperson for the Schauer campaign, said the debate was negotiated by the campaigns with the Free Press, the News and Detroit Public Television.

Emily Benavides, spokesperson for Snyder, said the governor has been committed to meeting directly with voters and had earlier announced a 10-stop town hall tour to start next week.

Along with his other stops, he will participate in the debate, Benavides said, to show that he is leading the way on the state’s “Road to Recovery.”

Cunningham took umbrage at any suggestion that the debate might be part of Snyder’s campaign stops, saying it is a debate that will feature questions of both candidates by the moderators and the audience.

And in announcing the debate, Dianne Byrum, who negotiated the debate on behalf of Schauer, said the Democratic campaign still hoped there would be more debates in the race.

Analysts said the debate made sense for both candidates.

“The format will play to the governor’s strengths. He’s done well in this format before,” John Truscott with Truscott Rossman and former spokesperson for Governor John Engler, said. “He obviously has a really good command of the facts and that’s what you need in a format like this.”

Truscott, who has urged Snyder to step up his campaign efforts, acknowledged that there are disadvantages to an incumbent sharing a stage with a challenger, but he said accepting the invitation ends the discussion. “Why let the opposing camp whine for a month about it?”

The timing also leaves room for corrections, Truscott said. “If there are any mistakes, you can cover them and make up for them,” he said.

But such mistakes are exactly what Schauer is hoping to see, TJ Bucholz, CEO of Vanguard Public Affairs and a long-time Democratic campaign advisor, said.

“It’s on Detroit Public Television, so it’s a lower risk for the governor,” Bucholz said. “But I do think it gives Mark Schauer an opportunity to potentially have a gotcha moment from the governor.”

Bucholz said it was not the Schauer campaign’s insistence, though, that drove the governor to accept the debate. “The polling as such is to the point where the governor couldn’t avoid a debate,” he said.

Virtually every independent survey released in the past month has shown Schauer and Snyder in a statistical tie.

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