Anchorage Daily News

All but one of the six Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress will be in Kodiak today for the first debate of the campaign.

Missing will be the late entry candidate, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who announced for the office last week. Parnell was scheduled to be in Juneau through today on state business, then planned to fly to Anchorage to set up his campaign headquarters, according to campaign spokesman Stephen Howell.

The kinds of questions that so annoyed the incumbent, Don Young, that he canceled a press conference last month -- his relationship to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff or why he's spent nearly $1 million on legal fees -- will be off limits in Kodiak.

The debate is part of the Comfish exposition and moderator John Whiddon, president of Island Seafoods and the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, said any question not directly related to fishing will be ruled out of order.

The two-hour debate will be broadcast live on public radio KSKA in Anchorage starting at 7 p.m. at 91.1 on the dial. The debate will also stream live from the Web site of Kodiak public radio station KMXT, www.kmxt.org.

Questions will be asked by panelists Jason Moore of KTUU in Anchorage, Casey Kelly of KMXT, Margie Bauman of the Alaska Journal of Commerce in Anchorage and Ralph Gibbs of the Kodiak Daily Mirror.

The Republican candidates who've said they'll be there are Young and Gabrielle LeDoux, a state representative from Kodiak. The Democrats are former state Rep. Ethan Berkowitz of Anchorage, former state party chairman Jake Metcalfe and Anchorage author Diane Benson, who ran against Young in 2006.

Find Richard Mauer online at adn.com/contact/rmauer or call 257-4345.

COMFISH: For more information on the exhibition, visit

www.comfishalaska.com

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