Dewhurst, Patrick square off Wednesday in second lieutenant governor debate

On Wednesday (May 7), Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Sen. Dan Patrick will come face to face — in one of the rare occasions since the March primary — for a round-table debate about the contest for one of the state’s most powerful offices.

The two, deeply embroiled in a bitter and contentious fight to determine the state’s next lieutenant governor, will answer questions during a 45-minute discussion.

Wednesday’s WFAA-produced debate, which will be streamed live on websites such as star-telegram.com and WFAA.com, will give Texas voters another chance to see the candidates in action, which could be important for what is expected to be a sparse runoff election May 27.

“The turnout in the primaries is very low and the runoff lower yet,” said Allan Saxe, an associate political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. “The political junkies like myself will find this of interest since the runoff has become a battle of TV ads between Dewhurst and Patrick and some becoming pretty tough.”

The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at WFAA/Channel 8 TV’s Dallas studio.

More at http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/05/03/5789639/dewhurst-patrick-square-off-wednesday.html?rh=1 .