Sam Brownback, Paul Davis to meet in first debate Saturday

Gov. Sam Brownback and his Democratic rival Paul Davis will meet each other for their first debate at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson on Saturday.

Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University, said Brownback’s goal should be to follow up on his television ads, which assert that “the sun is shining in Kansas and don’t let anybody tell you any different.”

“It’s a bad debate for Davis if Brownback at the end has come across as very effectively making the case that things are moving forward and Davis is not able to counter that,” Beatty said.

Mark Dugan, Brownback’s campaign manager, said that Brownback would highlight his “positive vision for Kansas,” focusing on job creation and investment in education.

Davis has repeatedly said the state’s job creation lags behind the nation as a whole and that schools are underfunded.

“Paul’s been consistent in his message and that’s the Brownback experiment has failed and the evidence is piling up,” said Chris Pumpelly, Davis’ spokesman, pointing to the state's recent bond rating downgrades.

Beatty said that Davis’ challenge will be to persuade voters of that but still do it “with a smile on his face.”

Beatty said that Brownback’s ads are meant to paint his opponents as pessimists unwilling to recognize the state’s successes.

“If it’s an effective debate Davis is going to argue ‘No, I’m actually optimistic about this state, I just want to fix what I think is wrong,’” Beatty said.

The debate is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Kansas State Fair. It will be live streamed at www.wibwnewsnow.com/election/live-stream/.

This story was originally published September 5, 2014 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Sam Brownback, Paul Davis to meet in first debate Saturday."