By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Missouri Governor Bob Holden and his primary election opponent, Claire McCaskill, will square off tonight (Monday) in Kansas City in the first of two debates.
The two Democratic candidates will answer reporters' questions for an hour.
They will debate again in St. Louis on Tuesday night.
Lana Stein, the chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, says the debates could help determine the winner of the primary.
"The only poll figures that I've seen are those that were out a few weeks ago from the Kansas City Star and they actually showed McCaskill a little ahead," Stein said. "So, I would say that from what I know this is going to be a close race and some people might watch the debate and make up their minds from it."
Stein also says the format of answering questions from panels of reporters does not give one candidate a large advantage over the other.
"I think that Claire McCaskill has experience as a lawyer and a prosecutor which might give her a little edge in the speaking part of it or coming across. But I haven't seen Holden debate so I can't really make that too emphatic."
Two other Democratic candidates - Jim LePage of Jefferson City and Jeffery Emrich of Blue Summitt - were not invited to participate in the debates.
The debates both start at 7:00 p.m. and will be aired live on KWMU.