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Aug. 5, 2028
Editor, The News-Gazette: I hope Congressman Ben Cline agrees to participate in a series of forums and debates with Ken Mitchell in the congressional race in the sixth district. The latest Biden-Trump debate was a game changer and gave people in our country a bird’s eye view of each candidate.
There may be many types of forums or “debates,” but the standard professionally-run debate includes two moderators asking questions, time limits for answers to these questions and rebuttal time and televised and streamed on the internet and radio. The candidates are not given the questions in advance, and there are two or more debates in the election cycle.
I would like to ask both candidates to agree to each of these elements being present in a debate and have each debate before a live audience. The sixth congressional district is 210 miles long. It is narrow in some parts hugging Interstate 81 and wide in some parts going all the way to the West Virginia line. There is the north section of the sixth district including Harrisonburg and everything north of Harrisonburg. There is the central section of the district including everything south of Harrisonburg all the way to Glasgow. There is the southern section of the district starting just south of Glasgow and going all the way south of Roanoke to the end of the district. In addition, there is a western section of the district, west of Lexington to the state line. Each section is entitled to hosting one debate and the debates should be one week apart.
To the candidates, I say: “Gentlemen, start your engines.” To the voters, I say “Get ready.” HERB RUBENSTEIN Lexington
