Think the tussle over tonight's presidential debate has been strange? Look at what's happening here.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and challenger Dino Rossi have for weeks been planning a debate in Vancouver, hosted by The Columbian newspaper.

Apparently, the paper and the two campaigns agreed on noon on a date reportedly picked by Rossi's side: Oct. 13. Then the time was changed to 11 a.m., again reportedly at the request of Rossi's campaign.

"Yet again, we compromised, rearranged the Governor's schedule and agreed to adjust the governor's schedule to accommodate the 11 a.m. start," Gregoire spokeswoman Debra Carnes wrote in a memo to reporters.

Then last week, Carnes said, Rossi wanted to change the time again, this time to 10:30 a.m.

Gregoire's side refused, saying it wasn't going to juggle her schedule yet a third time.

Rossi's side, citing an 11:30 a.m. lunchtime fundraiser for which the invitations had already been mailed out, held firm. Afton Swift, Rossi's campaign manager, called the memo "petulant."

"Last I heard, the two campaigns were only half an hour apart," he wrote in a memo of his own.

The plan now: Gregoire plans to appear at 11 a.m., as planned, and instead hold a town-hall-style forum.

"The facts are the facts," Carnes e-mailed Swift. "We both agreed to an 11 a.m. debate and your campaign pulled the plug. We're still planning on being in Vancouver at 11 a.m. on Oct. 13. Our commitment has never changed."

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