GOP Hopefuls Approve 2 Debates; 3rd Possible

California’s three major Republican candidates for governor agreed Tuesday to meet for a pair of debates before the March 5 primary. A third debate is under discussion.

The first debate will be Jan. 22 at San Jose State and the second will be Feb. 13 at Cal State Long Beach. Each will last one hour, starting at 7 p.m.

Secretary of State Bill Jones, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and businessman Bill Simon Jr. will participate in the debates, produced by the California Broadcasters Assn. A live feed will be free to all radio and television stations in the state; in the past, however, few have carried the gubernatorial debates.

An agreement on the dates was reached after a series of negotiating sessions among representatives of the three rival camps.

Simon, the least known of the top GOP candidates, held out hopes Tuesday for other sessions. He and Jones have agreed to appear at a debate tentatively set for the state GOP convention over the Feb. 9 weekend and another session proposed for Feb. 28.

“Additional debates, closer to primary election day, when voters are paying attention, will be a great opportunity for discussion” of the candidates’ differences, said Sal Russo, a strategist for Simon’s campaign.

But Riordan’s camp has resisted any debates after mid-February, which would allow the candidates a few weeks before the primary to recover from any gaffes.

Speaking to reporters in Sacramento, Riordan committed to at least one additional debate. The most likely would be the debate at the state party convention in the Bay Area.

“Three debates are going to be enough to let the people of California know whether they like Dick Riordan, Bill Jones or Bill Simon,” Riordan said. “For us to do 100 debates is like being in a junior high school debating club. I don’t think it does anybody any good.”