Earlier this month, Hill and Sodrel agreed in principle to a face-off on August 31 in a debate proposed and to be aired by WTIU, a PBS affiliate in Bloomington. But the two seemingly reached an impasse last week.

WTIU station manager Phil Meyer says the station sent contracts to both camps proposing a moderated, "standard debate format," consisting of questions from a panel on multiple topics. Hill's camp returned the contract with topics such as national security and foreign policy scratched out, Meyer says. The only one remaining was energy. "That presents a logistical difficulty with a panel of journalists," Meyer says. "If you talk about the war in Iraq, is that considered an energy issue or foreign policy?"

Since the spring, Hill has challenged Sodrel to a debate solely on energy costs. Sodrel's camp says it prefers a general debate with questions from the audience in the mix. With WTIU in the middle, neither is budging.

"We are standing by the single-issue format," says Abby Curran, campaign manager for Hill. "That's what we originally agreed to, and we had submitted in writing an agreement to the single-issue format."

Sodrel's camp is refusing the idea and accusing Hill of cherry-picking his fights. "If you want to run for Congress, you should be able to answer any question for anybody at any time," says Cam Savage, campaign manager for Sodrel. "You don't have the luxury of choosing what you want to talk about."

The standoff leaves open the possibility that the August 31 debate will not occur at all and complicates negotiations for further debates. Curran insists that "Baron is willing to debate," saying the Democratic candidate prefers a series of meetings between the candidates, as many as four, that would each highlight a separate issue. Sodrel's campaign calls such claims disingenuous, accusing Hill of ducking such meetings in 2004, at which time only one debate-in a standard format-was agreed upon. Curry cites "scheduling conflicts," which is "why we wanted to get the ball rolling early this time."

For its part, WTIU is urging Hill's camp to back down. "It's our position that we'd rather have one firm debate than continue to negotiate and not have any," Meyer says. "A series would be great because it'd be in-depth, but you also have the reality of the calendar."?Bret Schulte