Marion County Democrats

Do debates matter? In this year's mayoral election, they just might.

Sure, mayoral debates are typically as exciting as preseason NBA games. And in recent election cycles, they have had little if any impact on Election Night outcomes.

But things might be different this year -- for a few reasons.

First, the 2011 contest between Republican Greg Ballard and Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy has been a low-key affair. At times, weeks have passed without any major news or proposals emerging from either campaign -- particularly Ballard's. If not for the occasional television commercial, many residents might not know a race was being run.

But one is. And its under-the-radar style is likely to put more weight than is typical on a series of face-to-face debates that began at the Downtown Rotary Club last week and continues at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Butler University's Clowes Hall.

Second, many voters at this point would understandably struggle to define the major differences in how the two candidates would lead the city. Last week's debate started the process of highlighting areas of separation -- such as how police would be deployed and how the proceeds of the city's utilities sale would be spent -- and the coming debates should offer even more contrasts in policy and style.

Finally, this year's election features two candidates worth supporting. Often of late, it seems, voters are driven just as much or more by their dislike of one candidate as by their support of another. Outside of the die-hard insider partisans, I've heard little criticism of either Ballard or Kennedy this year. The debates, particularly two televised debates later this month, will help with the challenge many of us face as we look at two quality, if overly cautious, candidates and try to decide which one offers the most hope for the city's future.

At last week's debate, many people I talked to on the way out shared the same sentiment: There was no knock-out blow. Both candidates survived to debate another day. And while I agree, I also believeKennedy won the debate for three reasons.

First, she is clearly more comfortable in the setting and, as a policy wonk and a former deputy mayor, she seems much more in command of the issues facing the city.

Ballard, never a master of policy, these days comes across as a candidate who has been heavily coached. He fills his answers with a mix of rapid-fire talking points, provided by his advisers, and dry managerial statistics and jargon. Kennedy offers plenty of substance in her answers but also finds a way to make her pitch more personal -- talking, for instance, about voters' children and her own kids. "I want our city," she said, "to be the place where all of our children have the ability to achieve their dreams -- right here."

That's a vision with which most voters can relate.

Second, she owns the issue of education. Republicans initially mocked her for focusing on an issue that many past mayors have been hesitant to engage. But unlike her critics, Kennedy clearly understood the potency and importance of the issue. It could be the issue that defines this race, and Kennedy has fully embraced it from Day One, offering a smart plan to invest in early childhood education. As I've often written, Ballard has done many things right as mayor. But he's largely been missing in action until recently from the debate over the city's traditional public schools. His boastful statements in Tuesday's debate claiming otherwise were both exaggerations and laughable.

Third, Ballard hasn't yet found a way to effectively communicate the importance of the stellar work his administration has done with the city budget, infrastructure and government operations -- from snow removal to the Mayor's Action Center. His team has brought about crucial improvements in these areas, but they are not the type of things many voters spend much time thinking about. If he doesn't better explain the role these nitty-gritty issues play in improving the quality of life for city residents, his biggest accomplishments will not be an Election Day issue.

Both candidates have a few more head-to-head chances to sell themselves. That's good for both of them, and it's good for those of us who will vote on Nov. 8. For the first time in a long time, this might be a race that turns on the candidates' debate performances.