U.S. Senate and Missouri governor debates on Friday

A couple of back-to-back debates are planned this week for candidates running for U.S. Senate and Missouri governor.

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill and her Republican challenger, Todd Akin, are to debate at 10:45 Friday morning in Columbia.

Immediately before that, Democratic Governor Jay Nixon is to face Republican challenger Dave Spence during a 9:30 debate.

Both debates will also include Libertarian candidates — Jonathan Dine for Senate, and Jim Higgins for governor.

These are the first debates of the Missouri general election campaign.