Ah, the debate challenge. It’s an annual rite during election season.

There is little doubt that in the race for governor between Republican Kenny Hulshof and Democrat Jay Nixon there will be some good debates between the two men, and they ought to be interesting. Both are lawyers, good speakers and not afraid to mix it up a bit.

But Hulshof’s campaign is taking on the role of debate challenger by suggesting that it wants six debates.

“Missourians deserve to see the candidates for governor discuss the issues,” said Hulshof campaign spokesman Scott Baker in a news release. “The only way to do that is to debate in prime time as much as possible. This will ensure that all Missourians have broad access to the candidates and every opportunity to see where each stand on the challenges confronting Missouri.”

Baker points out that when Nixon ran for U.S. Senate, it was he who was calling for more debates against Sen. Jack Danforth, at one time calling the St. Louis Republican a “chicken.”

A campaign operative I asked about this issue some time ago, put the annual debate debate this way: It matters to the candidates and the media, but ultimately, voters don’t care who wants more or less debates, as long as they get a chance to see the candidates go mano-a-mano at least once.

So will Nixon pull a Back to the Future (”Nobody calls me chicken”)?

Stay tuned …