All three U.S. Senate debates will be in Las Vegas

Scott Sonner

Friday, Oct. 6, 2000 | 3:28 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - The general manager for the Public Broadcasting Service television station in Reno has invited Nevada's two U.S. Senate candidates to debate in northern Nevada.

"I've been on the phone with both campaign managers and have issued an invitation to them to debate in the Channel 5 studios," Rick Schneider, president and general manager of KNPB-TV, said early Friday.

"They are considering it."

The invitation was extended the day after The Associated Press reported that all three debates between Republican candidate John Ensign and Democratic hopeful Ed Bernstein would be staged in Las Vegas and televised across most of the state.

Both campaigns on Thursday said they tried to schedule a debate in Reno but couldn't find anyone to host it.

"I have been fighting very hard to have one in Reno, but we can't find anybody to host it," Peter Ernaut, campaign director for Republican John Ensign, said Thursday.

"Both campaigns wanted to have one there but no one has stepped up," agreed Kelley Benander, spokeswoman for Democrat Ed Bernstein.

Schneider said that was a misunderstanding.

He said the live, statewide debate scheduled for Oct. 15 is a co-production between KNPB-TV in Reno and KLVX-TV Channel 10, the PBS station in Las Vegas.

"The two stations have always worked together to produce statewide coverage," Schneider said. "In our coverage plans, we were under the impression a single debate was sufficient and that one debate is what the candidates wanted.

"Channel 5 has a long tradition of producing debates and election coverage and would never want to shy away from doing that," he said. "It's part of our mission."

Debates are currently scheduled to be televised from Las Vegas on Tuesday Oct. 10, Sunday Oct. 15 and Friday Oct. 20.

The first debate will be carried live on NBC affiliates, including in Reno, Winnemucca and Elko.

The second - broadcast from KLVX in Las Vegas - will be carried by public television stations, including KNPB in Reno.

"We've extended the invitation and we'll see what we can do," Schneider said. "It was a misunderstanding that there was no interest in hosting a debate here because there certainly is."