Glenn Institute hosts gubernatorial debate tonight

COLUMBUS – Gov. Bob Taft and gubernatorial candidate Timothy Hagan will participate in a debate tonight at The Ohio State University.

The debate is one of just three meetings agreed to by the candidates. The John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at The Ohio State University is hosting the debate. The Glenn Institute leads a consortium of five university public policy institutes in sponsoring the event.

Co-sponsors include public policy institutes at the University of Akron, Cleveland State University, the University of Cincinnati and Ohio University.

The hour-long debate begins at 7 p.m. today (10/23) at The Blackwell (the new hotel at the Fisher College of Business) before a live audience of approximately 300 invited guests.

The debate will be moderated by Ohio State alumnus Erin Moriarty (‘73 B.A. and ‘77 J.D.), an award-winning correspondent for CBS. Candidates will take questions from two panels composed of students and faculty members associated with the public policy institutes.

WOSU-TV 34 will provide live television coverage and also will offer the program to any station that wishes to carry or record the broadcast. Among the stations that will carry the debate live are: WBNS-TV, ONN, nearly every PBS affiliate in Ohio, and C-SPAN C-SPAN. WOSU-AM will also offer live coverage of the debate.

In addition, the Glenn Institute will offer a live webcast of the event, accessible from http://www.osu.edu/glenninstitute/

“Debates are an essential part of the political decision-making process,” said Deborah Merritt, director of the Glenn Institute. ”The Glenn Institute is extremely pleased to offer Ohio voters this opportunity to see and hear how the candidates respond to questions that affect their daily lives.”

Because time constraints prohibit participation by John Eastman, an independent candidate for governor, the Glenn Institute will hold a public forum with the Natural Law Party candidate at 11:30 a.m. on Monday (10/28) at the Faculty Club.