Debate for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District in Cedar Rapids Oct. 12

Next up, the race for Congress in Iowa -- specifically, the state's 2

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Congressional District seat.

The Gazette and KCRG-TV9 will host another political debate –this time between the Democratic and Republican 2

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Congressional District candidates –in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Oct. 12.

This follows the rousing Thursday, Oct. 7, debate between Democratic Gov. Chet Culver and former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad at Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

The focus shifts to Cedar Rapids' Mount Mercy University for the 2Democratic incumbent Dave Loebsack and Republican challenger Mariannette Miller-Meeks will be at Betty Cherry Heritage Hall from 7 to 8 p.m. As with the gubernatorial debate, you can watch it live on KCRG Local 9.2 or online at TheGazette.com and KCRG.com/

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District debate.

The debate is open to the public but only an estimated 50 seats are available because of the auditorium's seating capacity. We've allotted each campaign 35 seats for people the candidates would like to invite. We knew high interest would exist for last week's gubernatorial debate so tickets were issued to the public for that debate. Tickets will not be issued for Tuesday's debate, however.

This will be a first-come, first-serve event. Once public seating is taken we will have to tell people that seats no longer are available. The doors will open at 6:15 p.m.

As with the gubernatorial debate, Tuesday's event will feature only the Democratic and Republican candidates. The other candidates are Libertarian

Gary Sicard of Robins and Constitution Party candidate

Jon Tack. They were not invited for the same reason third party candidates were not invited to the gubernatorial debate: We want to spend a productive hour focusing on what the next member of Congress from Iowa's 2

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District will do in Washington, and history indicates that Loebsack or Miller-Meeks have the best chance at going there.