U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn and Democratic challenger Hal Bidlack will face off twice in the final week before the Nov. 4 general election.

The first debate will air Oct. 28 on KVOR (740 AM) radio from 9 to 10 a.m. The live debate will be moderated by Richard Randall.

The second debate is set for Oct. 30, sponsored by the Falcon Republican Club. The time and other details were not available Wednesday.

Bidlack had sought as many as seven debates – one in each of the outlying counties in the 5th Congressional District and two in the sprawling district’s most populous county, El Paso County – after Lamborn defeated two Republican challengers in the Aug. 12 primary.

In the glow of that victory, Lamborn, who had rebuffed all requests for debates before the primary from challengers Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn, said he was willing to meet Bidlack face to face.

Bidlack, a retired Air Force officer who taught at the Air Force Academy, should get that chance even before the debates.

Lamborn offered Monday to meet Bidlack for coffee Oct. 6 to “get to know Mr. Bidlack personally,” his campaign spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen said.Voters, though, won’t get to see the two of them together and judge how they think on their feet until weeks after early voting begins Oct. 19.

Early voting, in which residents request a ballot and either mail it or deliver it to the county election office ahead of Election Day, has become more vital in recent years and was decisive in 2006 when Lamborn was elected to Congress after a decade in the state Legislature.

The League of Women Voters and the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council tried in August to set up a debate for Oct. 1, but Lamborn told them he was unavailable, an organizer said.

Lamborn’s unwillingness to debate until late in the campaign left his opponent exasperated.

“Why doesn’t he have the time to address the issues facing the constituents of the 5th Congressional District?” Bidlack said in a release. “Why doesn’t he have the time to have a meaningful debate?”

Lamborn’s spokeswoman did not respond to Bidlack’s charges except to say Lamborn, who is in Washington while Congress is in session, had agreed to the two late October debates.

Bidlack plans to attend a debate Oct. 2 at the Pikes Peak Center sponsored by the Colorado chapter of the Coalition for a Prosperous America.

Lamborn is listed on the Web site as attending, but his campaign did not have it listed on his scheduled appearances.

Admission is $12. For information, www.prosperousamerica.org

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Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazettedev.gazette.com

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