Despite disagreement over seating, Brown and Kashkari set to debate

In the world of political stagecraft, the setup for televised candidate debates can be closely scrutinized and hotly contested.

It was no different in the run-up to Thursday night’s debate between Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and Republican challenger Neel Kashkari, a former U.S. Treasury official. At one point, disagreements raised the possibility that the debate would be canceled.

“It’s typical debate stuff,” said Kevin Eckery, a political consultant hired by the California Channel, a debate co-sponsor, to help run the event. “In the end, everything is ironed out.”

The dispute boiled down to whether the candidates would be allowed to stand during the debate, or be required to sit for the duration. Kashkari wanted to stand.

“It makes it more comfortable because he has lower back issues,” said Pat Melton, Kashkari’s campaign manager. The high stools provided for the candidates don’t provide adequate back support, Melton said, and are not something “where he would be able to remain comfortable for an hour.”

The request was rejected.

“We just couldn’t accommodate them from a production standpoint,” Eckery said, explaining that the studio is small and had been arranged specifically for a debate in which the candidates would sit.

Melton said the debate sponsors -- which also include the Los Angeles Times, KQED public radio and television, and Telemundo -- threatened to cancel the event if Kashkari did not agree to the seating arrangement.

The campaign agreed on Thursday morning, but his staff wasn’t happy.

“We were never consulted on anything other than the invitation to come to the debate,” Melton said. “Then, when we raised one issue, it was blown out and it was denied.”

Eckery said there may have been a “breakdown in communication” on the seating requirement, but organizers were open with the campaigns about plans for the debate.

“Everyone had a chance to look at the studio setup,” he said. “Everyone had a chance to comment.”

Brown and his campaign were not involved in the last-minute discussions about seating, said the governor’s campaign spokesman, Dan Newman.

Cancellation of the debate could have been costly for Kashkari, eliminating perhaps his only chance to directly engage with Brown, who has a commanding lead in opinion polls and fundraising.

Kashkari had asked for 10 debates. Brown agreed to just one.

Eckery downplayed the likelihood of a cancellation.

“I’ve been involved with other debates,” he said. “This is par for the course.”

In the Texas gubernatorial race, Republican Greg Abbot recently pulled out of a debate with Democrat Wendy Davis over concerns about the event’s format. It was later rescheduled with a different television station.

Follow @chrismegerian on Twitter for more updates from Sacramento.