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Brandon Augsburg
Daily Egyptian

The first gubernatorial debate in southern Illinois in 20 years was postponed yet again Tuesday.

Sheila Nix, campaign spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, told the debate committee the governor could not commit to the Sept. 26 debate at the Marion Civic Center. Blagojevich asked for the debate to be moved to Oct. 3.

"We've had some other things come up in that week, so we wanted it moved back," Nix said.

This is the second time the debate has been rescheduled. It was originally set for Sept. 5, but Republican candidate Judy Baar Topinka requested a change of date.

Blagojevich, Topinka and Green Party candidate Rich Whitney all orally committed to the debate, but only Topinka and Whitney confirmed their intent to attend the debate in writing.

Whitney, who was officially invited to the debate last week after receiving 6 percent of support in a Chicago Tribune poll last week, could not put his finger on Blagojevich's reason for pulling out of the debate.

"What could be more important than informing the public when you're in the middle of a gubernatorial campaign?" Whitney asked.

Whitney said the postponement was unfortunate for the voters.

"If it doesn't come to pass, it's really the voters who are losing," he said.

Whitney told the debate sponsors ˜ the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, WSIU Public Broadcasting and the Southern Illinoisan ˜ he would accept another date. He said it is a shame the debate has been postponed, but he will continue to spread his message.

"We will continue to get our message out to voters," Whitney said. "We will find other ways to do it."

Mike Lawrence, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute and spokesman for the debate committee, said the delay is regrettable and the sponsors have reached a point where they need to move on and focus on other matters.

"We've spent months on this and it's not realistic to devote more time if the candidates can't get together on this," he said.

He said he was disappointed by the postponement, especially because all three candidates had already orally committed. He said the candidates are not bound to rescheduling the debate for Oct. 3 and that the committee would accept other dates if all parties could agree.

Lawrence said he hopes the debate will still happen, but, at this point, he said there is a real possibility it might fall through.

"I'm not especially optimistic that they will get together," he said.

Lawrence said the debate committee gave Topinka and Blagojevich until Friday to commit to a later date in writing.

Representatives from the Topinka campaign did not return phone messages.