We're planning two political debates this fall with WMTW News 8 and Central Maine Newspapers.

The debates will be held at the Hannaford Lecture Hall at the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus. The U.S. Senate candidates - incumbent Republican Susan Collins and Democratic Rep. Tom Allen - will debate on Tuesday, Oct. 14.

The candidates for the 1st Congressional District - Democrat Chellie Pingree and Republican Charlie Summers - will square off against each other on Tuesday, Oct. 28.

We held a meeting today with the folks at WMTW to talk about the format.

What we're looking at right now is similar to the gubernatorial debate we co-sponsored with Channel 8 in 2006. It'll take place from noon to 1 p.m. and be broadcast live on TV and the Internet. Questions will come from a panel of journalists, the live audience and the Web. The debate will be moderated by one of the WMTW anchors.

The 2006 debate was fast-moving and hit on a lot of topics. Because there were five candidates for governor, we had to cover a lot of ground and make sure everyone got a chance to speak.

(It was also a little surreal because one of the candidates, independent Phillip Morris NaPier, wore a large sword and kilt to the event and had to be disarmed before the State Police would let him sit next to Gov. John Baldacci. Never in a million years did I ever think I'd have to help disarm a political candidate.)

I'm guessing there won't be any swords at the Senate or House debates in October. That said, with only two candidates at each event, there should be plenty of opportunity for give and take.

Keep an eye on pressherald.com and wmtw.com for information about how to submit questions for the candidates.

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