King County Executive candidate Dow Constantine is only six points behind Republican Susan Hutchison (27 percent to 33 percent), according to the latest batch of results from King County Elections. It's far closer than polls showed before the vote and further evidence that if support for other Democrats in the primary coalesces around Contsantine in November, he will wallop her in the general election.

But Hutchison wants to take the contest to one place it's never really been—and a place where she has the upper hand: television. On KUOW this week, she challenged Constantine to three televised debates. "Voters are fed up with the irresponsible spending and mismanagement of county government and want to know how we intend to implement reform," she reportedly said. "More importantly, they want to know where Chairman Constantine has been for the past seven years and how he allowed county government to accumulate a projected $110 million budget deficit."

But the challenge and accusations from Hutchison—a former news anchor for KIRO who has plenty of practice under television lights—are a little bogus.

Constantine says he and Hutchison were "already setting up television debates" before her challenge yesterday. And he relishes the opportunity for a head-to-head discussion; Hutchison was elusive in the primary campaign and, even at forums both have attended, she typically spoke only when asked a specific question and avoided direct debate. "I think that is what the voters of county deserve--to see the contrast between the two candidates," he says. For instance, his campaign points out that there are nine county-funded clinics, which, among other services, assist pregnant women. Would Hutchison, who has advocated for conservative causes and declined to fill out a NARAL questionnaire, continue to fund family planning? Constantine's campaign says he would, but Hutchison has skirted the issue.

Constantine's camp also plans to use the debate to shut down Hutchison's repeated accusations that he is to blame for the county's financial shortfall. While it's true that the budget is facing a gap of over $50 million next year, the national economy and the state's tax structure are largely to blame, says campaign spokesman Sandeep Kaushik. Hutchison has done nothing to fix a state system that limits counties from collecting enough money to operate in poor economies, but when Constantine was in the legislature, he co-sponsored a bill to create the Gates tax commission (which made recommendations that the legislature hasn't acted on). And he also pushed for council oversight of certain projects, such as the Brightwater sewage treatment plant, about which a recent state audit said, "We believe the County could use similar performance measures for other construction projects." In other words, he's actually done things to fix the county budget problems. In early August, he released a detailed plan on ways for King County to save $75 million without raising taxes (cutting council staff pay, extending furloughs, and shuffling human-service spending).

But Hutchison, who had a 20-year career on a television set, will hold the home-turf advantage in televised debates.

"Look, obviously Susan Hutchison is a former television news anchor, so there is no question that she will present well on television," says Kaushik. "But when it comes down to the final analysis, voters will ask which candidate has the most substantive answers and who offer proposals in line with their core values, and they will vote for Dow."

He adds that in the campaign season, "There are multiple opportunities for debates and community forums. We hope that this isn't an effort to limit those appearances to just three [televised debates]. The voters of this county expect and deserve that we have a substantial yet civil debate."