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It’s a matter of tradition, of giving the voters a side-by-side view of the candidates.

Another tradition has arisen alongside this debating tradition: haranguing your opponent about debating. One candidate, usually the challenger, calls the other a coward for not wanting to debate, or not wanting to debate enough.

That’s the moment we’re in during the 2022 campaign. It shouldn’t be taken too seriously — unless a candidate actually refuses to debate. That would be embarrassing.

We should find out this week whether Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Mark Kelly is going to debate Republican challenger Blake Masters, and if Democrat Katie Hobbs will debate Republican Kari Lake in the race for governor. There is a Friday deadline for the debates sponsored by the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Clean Elections Commission.

Neither Democrat has accepted a debate yet — in fact they are the only two statewide candidates not to accept an invitation to appear at one of the commission’s events. Out of the 16 Republicans and Democrats nominated for statewide office, 14 have agreed.

As you might expect, Kelly’s and Hobbs’ Republican opponents are rubbing their faces in their hesitation to accept.

“I think Mark Kelly is hiding. I think he hides because his voting record is indefensible,� Blake Masters said in a video Saturday.

Masters noted that he has accepted a debate invitation from CNN as well, and he has challenged Kelly to a series of debates.

This is, of course, to be expected from a challenger, especially one like Masters who is behind in the polls. Kelly’s campaign said Wednesday that, after a recent “productive� meeting, they expect to accept the invitation.

A bigger discussion is happening, though, in the race for governor, where there is no incumbent.

Lake went after Hobbs in a video posted Aug. 23: “You claim to care about the people of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. Prove it. Debate me. You name the time, you name the place.â€�

She concluded the video: “I think you are a coward. Prove me wrong.�

Lake’s video gave me mixed feelings. On the one hand, Lake is right: Hobbs should debate her, and not doing so would look like cowardice.

On the other hand, I didn’t even see the Lake video for more than a week because I am one of the many, many ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ journalists and other people whom she has blocked on Twitter. That, too, is a cowardly move that smells of fear of an open debate.

Now, Kelly seems likely to accept at least the Clean Elections debate soon. And it’s quite possible that Hobbs will, too.

But I wasn’t that convinced by the Hobbs campaign’s reasoning for the delay. In an email sent to the commission Friday, campaign manager Nicole Demont said:

“We are eager to find a format that allows for a substantive debate of policy proposals, but as you know, the chaos of the Republican primary debate did no such thing. Instead, it turned ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ into a national laughing stock, and Secretary Hobbs has too much respect for this state and its voters to participate in such an event.â€�

When I talked with Hobbs’ spokesman, Joe Wolf, on Wednesday, he reiterated concern about Lake turning any debate into a “farce.�

But I actually watched that GOP primary debate Wednesday (pro tip: use the double-speed setting on YouTube to get through it fast), and I thought it was useful. Even though it got out of control, and it was awkward to watch, a viewer could get a decent feel for the candidates from it.

It is worse, in my view, for a candidate to view a debate as too dirty for her to participate in than to take part and get a little muddy.

While the GOP debate did get loony enough for videos to circulate of it and create some national mockery, there was no chance for a debate in the Democratic primary to go off the rails. Hobbs didn’t bother to debate opponent Marco Lopez, which I thought was a bit disrespectful to the voters.

And of course, the general-election debate would be one-on-one, not a four-person free-for-all. 

Now, the real problem for Hobbs is that TV is Lake’s profession. Even if she’s saying wild things, Lake has a natural TV presence that comes from more than 25 years on the air.

It is unfortunate for Hobbs, almost unfair, to have to debate a TV pro on TV. 

But those are the breaks, and this is our tradition.

It’s not a big deal to hesitate to debate, or to massage the rules in your favor, but refusing to debate would be a major failure, and I hope we don’t see it.