Republican Lamar Alexander and Democrat Gordon Ball are scheduled to make their first and only joint appearance of Tennessee's U.S. Senate race in Cookeville on Thursday. The one hour forum hosted by the Farm Bureau is taking place at Tennessee Tech University.
Ball has criticized Alexander for refusing to hold a series of debates around the state leading up to the election.
Alexander is a former Tennessee governor who also ran for President twice. He's seeking a third term in the Senate. Ball is a Knoxville attorney who narrowly won the Democratic nomination in August and has largely self-financed his campaign.
Both candidates are running negative TV ads against each other, with Alexander calling Ball beholden to President Barack Obama and Ball calling Alexander out of touch with Tennessee voters.
