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The Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate have agreed to a 90-minute televised debate next week sponsored by NBC-17 and the League of Women Voters of North Carolina.

The debate will be held April 14th from 7:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the NBC-17 studios in Raleigh. Participating in the debate are Ken Lewis of Chapel Hill, Marcus Williams of Lumberton, Elaine Marshall of Lillington, Cal Cunningham of Lexington and Ann Worthy of Gastonia.

The debate, to be held the night before the opening of early voting, is the only debate now scheduled before the May 4th primary, Rob Christensen reports.

It will be moderated by Kim Genardo, a reporter and anchor for station. Voters can send their questions for the candidates to myvote@wncn.com and should include their first and last name along with with their city/county residence. The deadline to submit questions is 12 a.m. Sunday April 11.

A panel of journalists from across the state will also ask questions.

The live debate will also be offered to other TV stations outside the Raleigh TV market. Viewers can also watch the debate live on MyNC.com.

Paul Shumaker, Burr's consultant, wrote a letter to Democratic Senate candidate Kenneth Lewis of Durham, saying he could not participate in a forum with the N.C. Medical Society on Friday in Raleigh, Rob Christensen reports. Burr is scheduled to appear before a group of about 75 doctors.

Lewis, the only announced Democratic candidate, had challenged Burr, a Republican to a debate on health care. Burr had discussed a forum and had even talked about televising it with NBC-17.

But Shumaker said Burr decided to appear before the doctors alone, when Lewis was the only Democrat to respond to Burr's invitation.

More after the jump.

Sen. Richard Burr will appear before the N.C. Medical Society on Friday morning in Raleigh to talk about health care, but it won't with any of his possible Democratic opponents.

At one point, the Medical Society extended an invitation to include the Democrats considering running against Burr in 2010, Rob Christensen reports. But when the Democrats expressed no interest, the doctors decided to go back to their original format of just having Burr discussing the issue with a group of physicians.

In declining to participate, one of the Democrats, former state Sen. Cal Cunningham of Lexington, also got in a gig at Burr.

Cunningham wrote to Burr: "PS. You really should give up dipping snuff. I've found there is no future in it."

Update: A spokesman for the Medical Society said the organization decided to limit the event to Burr since it were unable to get a slate of Democratic candidates to attend. Kenneth Lewis, who previously said he wanted to debate Burr, says he intends to show up Friday ready to debate.

It was Burr who invited the Democratic candidates. Lewis accepted that invitation.

"In your letter of August 18th, you expressed your 'intent to offer a forum for a substantive debate with the hopes of better educating the public on the issue before the Congress," Lewis said in a statement. "Senator Burr, the North Carolina Medical Society has offered such a forum. Now all you need to do is show up and debate."

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr has already agreed to a debate but not exactly the kind suggested in the invitation.

Durham lawyer Kennth Lewis, a Democratic candidate for Burr's seat in next year's election, sent Burr a letter last week asking him to debate health care reform, charging that Burr had failed to defend his positions in public.

Burr, a Republican, agreed to debate but said the other two potential Democratic candidates should be included: Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and former state Sen. Cal Cunningham. He also said he's done plenty of defending his positions in speeches and news media interviews.

Burr wrote that his campaign staff will contact the candidates about scheduling a debate.

John Edwards is continuing his return to the public stage.

The former North Carolina senator will debate former adviser to President Bush Karl Rove on the economy and the election in San Francisco today.

The point-counterpoint discussion will be held by the Commercial Finance Association.

It will be Edwards' second public event since he acknowledged in August that he had an affair in 2006. He did not address the matter during an appearance in Indiana Tuesday.

Edwards and Rove have a contentious history. During his presidential campaign, Edwards repeatedly called for Rove to be fired, and later issued a simple statement "Goodbye, good riddance" when Rove left. (AP) 

A robocall is praising Barack Obama for his middle-class tax cut.

Paid for by the N.C. Democratic Party and authorized by the Obama campaign, the minute-long automated call features an Eden textile worker named Louis Dishman.

"During this week's debate, Barack Obama talked about cutting taxes for middle-class families like mine, lowering health care costs and bringing the change we need to Washington," he says.

"John McCain ignored the issues and used the debate to launch false attacks against Barack Obama."

He adds that McCain did not say the words "middle class" in any of the three debates.

After the jump, the script.

The gubernatorial candidates met for their final debate Wednesday.

Democrat Beverly Perdue, Republican Pat McCrory and Libertarian Mike Munger argued over school vouchers, crime and open government during an hourlong debate on a Charlotte TV station.

Perdue repeated charges that McCrory opposes children's health insurance and vetoed a bill to put more police officers on the street. McCrory cast Perdue as part of Raleigh's "culture of secrecy."

After Perdue cited her endorsement by law enforcement groups, McCrory dismissed them as "union organizers."

At times, Munger seemed trapped between his rivals. (N&O)

What will the gubernatorial candidates say at the final debate?

Republican Pat McCrory, Democrat Beverly Perdue and Libertarian Mike Munger will debate on WSOC-TV in Charlotte from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Based on past experiences, stump speeches and interviews, here are a few things you might hear:

* Perdue says "You know me, I'm a (blank)." (Possible words: "wonk," "academic," "health care advocate," fighter.")

* McCrory talks about a "culture of corruption" or "elites" in Raleigh.

* Munger compares a function of government to something completely unexpected. (Examples: a frat party, "Star Wars" or spanking your child.)

* Perdue mentions "Wall Street" and "Main Street" in the same sentence.

* McCrory notes that Perdue skipped two UNC-TV debates.

* Munger's response to a question is completely ignored by McCrory and Perdue, who fight amongst themselves instead.

Have a suggestion for something else to listen for? Make it in the comment thread below and we may include it in tomorrow's paper. 

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue says she's debated plenty.

The Democratic nominee for governor criticized a N&O/Charlotte Observer story this morning on how U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has largely avoided debates and Perdue is skipping the only live statewide televised debates.

"It took me almost three or four minutes to get to the part that said, 'Oh by the way, she's done four (debates),'" Perdue said during a meeting with the N&O editorial board Wednesday. "'She's done one every month. She's doing one next week.'"

Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory have faced off in four debates that were televised in individual TV markets, such as Raleigh, which sometimes were picked up by stations elsewhere in the state. She said five debates, counting one next week in Charlotte, is more than any governor's race in history. The article wasn't fair, she said.

"I'm a grown up," Perdue said. "Things don't need to be fair."

Mike Munger will get half of the spotlight again Wednesday night.

The Libertarian gubernatorial candidate and Republican Pat McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte and Republican nominee, will debate on WUNC TV. Democrat Beverly Perdue declined to join the debate, the second live forum televised statewide. Perdue skipped the first one as well.

Perdue's campaign emphasizes that they agreed to five other televised debates, four of which have already been held. Those match-ups were in individual television markets, such as the Raleigh area, but were sometimes broadcast at later times by stations in some of the other markets.

Perdue participated in the UNC-TV debates held during the Democratic primary.