But what would they talk about in October?

The usual "debate over debates'' is starting early in the Ohio governor's race.

Last week, when Republican Ken Blackwell started poking fun at Ted Strickland for sending his wife Frances and some policy advisers to a Columbus meeting of university trustees (and suggested that Strickland might send his friend Barack Obama to gubernatorial debates), Strickland said that anytime Blackwell wanted a face-to-face debate, he'd be ready.

Apparently, anytime is this week.

Blackwell's campaign put out a list of proposed dates, cities and times for June gubernatorial debates Monday - a schedule that would begin on Thursday at an unspecificed location in Youngstown. Blackwell's campaign suggested one for Monday, June 19 in Cincinnati, and three more in Columbus June 20-22.

The Blackwell campaign doesn't have any suggested venues for the five "debates'' and it is unlikely the two campaigns could work out the details and ground rules in time to start this week. So, the Blackwell campaign had a suggestion:

"Each week, Blackwell will issue a new list of proposed times and dates with the hope that a few will accomodate Strickland's schedule,'' a Blackwell press release said.

Late Monday afternoon, the Strickland campaign put out a press release expressing delight that Blackwell had agreed to debates, but did not commit to the June schedule Blackwell proposed. Instead, Strickland's campaign said it had designated David Wilhelm, the long-time political operative from Athens, Ohio who is a former Democratic National Committee chairman, to negotiate a debate schedule with the Blackwellites.

No score after one inning. Blackwell's turn to bat.