They will be participating in four debates.

The first one was Monday in Portland with the Pamplin Newspaper group.  They own several newspapers around the state  including a couple here in central Oregon.

The editorial board asked the candidates about the state's unemployment and got very different responses.

"Richardson:  First of all, the Governor needs to recognize that Oregon's unemployment rate has gone up to 7 percent while the national rate is going down.  We need a different approach.  Kitzhaber:  I'd be happy to stand on my numbers.  We created 120 thousand jobs.  I think Dennis was looking at different unemployment numbers.  We gained jobs in July and August because people are more optimistic about the eocnomy and more people are looking for work."

The two candidates have three more debates this week.

KBND will be broadcasting the debate at the Oregon Association of Broadcasters Conference in Sunriver this Friday at 11 A.M.