Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown on Tuesday challenged Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer to debate him 18 times across Montana this fall. Schweitzer's campaign countered with a plan for five debates.

Thus begins the latest debate over debates, a verbal battle that usually begins the day after the primary election.

It is a common request from challengers to ask incumbents to debate them many times. Challengers inevitably start out as less well-known with voters than incumbents and see debates as opportunities to increase their visibility and make their stands better known.

Better-known incumbents usually want to debate far fewer times. After the dust settles, the two sides usually agree to a number of debates far closer to what the incumbent sought than the challenger.

Brown fired the first salvo with a letter to Schweitzer on Tuesday afternoon.

He suggested two debates in Billings, one sponsored by the Montana Economic Developers and the other by the Billings Gazette, and debates in Missoula (sponsored by the Missoulian), Butte (by the Montana Standard) and Ravalli County (by the Ravalli Republic). Brown proposed debates with sponsors to be determined in Bozeman, Great Falls, Kalispell, Helena, Havre, Hardin, Miles City, Dillon, Glasgow, Sidney, Lewistown, Livingston and Polson.

"Governor, giving the voters the chance to hear our ideas and make up our own minds is one of the most important obligations we have as candidates to the voters of our state," Brown wrote Schweitzer. "I hope you'll join me in this effort to educate the voters about the differences in our campaigns."

In response, Schweitzer's campaign manager Harper Lawson said, "We believe that five organized debates broadcast across the state will give the people of Montana a fair and unfiltered view of where all three candidates for governor stand on the issue."

Lawson introduced the possibility of adding Libertarian gubernatorial candidates Stan Jones to the debate. He cited a March 6 Lee Newspapers State Bureau story in which Brown's campaign spokesman welcomed Jones into the race to debate the issues. It is a common tactic for incumbents to insist that third-party candidates be part of the debates, which dilutes a one-on-one match-up.

Lawson said Schweitzer's campaign has already spoken to potential debate sponsors for Missoula on Sept. 10, Helena on Sept. 25, Billings on Oct. 7 and Great Falls on Oct. 24, and is talking to the Montana Standard for a Butte debate on Sept. 29.

Schweitzer's campaign has agreed to a lieutenant governor's debate on Yellowstone Public Radio of Billings, broadcast statewide, between Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger and Brown's running mate, Steve Daines.

In response to Schweitzer's call for five debates, Brown's spokesman Tyler Matthews called it "disappointing that the governor doesn't want to go anywhere in the state where there won't be a TV camera." Matthews said it's unfortunate that Schweitzer "doesn't see value in addressing the needs and concerns of other Montana towns and communities around the state."

"He apparently doesn't want to go anywhere outside of the few major metropolitan areas where he gets his most votes," Matthews said. "Certainly communities like Kalispell and Bozeman, which aren't on his list, have issues worth addressing, but Roy Brown doesn't believe that you need to have a (Class) AA school to matter."

Replied Lawson: "Governor Schweitzer does not need a lecture on the needs of rural Montana from a retired oil executive who grew up in Wyoming. When it comes to listening to the concerns of small cities and rural town across Montana, Governor Schweitzer has traveled to every one of Montana's 56 counties each year he has been in office. And he will continue to do so each and every year he's in office."

"What does Roy Brown know about Class AA schools in Montana, anyhow? Governor Schweitzer went to a Class C school here in Montana while Roy Brown was growing up in Wyoming."

It's been a Montana tradition for years that candidates for top offices debate. In 2006, then-U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., debated Democratic challenger Jon Tester seven times. Tester won the race.

In a race for an open seat for governor in 1992, Republican Marc Racicot and Democrat Dorothy Bradley took part in nearly 30 debates, joint appearances or forums. Racicot narrowly defeated Bradley. Afterward, both Racicot and Bradley agreed it had been too many debates and joint appearances, and joked they could deliver the other's opening and closing lines and answers to standard questions because they had heard them so many times.