Oregon's candidates for governor, Democrat Kate Brown and Republican Knute Buehler, seem to have forgotten that there’s a bunch of Oregon between the Columbia River and the California border along the I-5 corridor, not to mention east of the Cascade Mountains. The candidates will hold only three debates before the Nov. 6 election: two in Portland and one in Medford. How about coming down to Eugene or heading over to Bend?

The gubernatorial candidates four years ago, John Kitzhaber and Dennis Richardson, agreed to five debates, including one in Eugene and one in Sunriver, just south of Bend. This year, there’s the I-5 corridor, and only the top and bottom of it.

Buehler wanted more debates this year, but the Brown campaign refused. That’s a typical dynamic in statewide elections with an incumbent. The challenger wants the additional exposure, and the incumbent wants to limit that exposure and minimize opportunities for mistakes.

That calculus ignores what is in the best interest of voters who want to make informed decisions based on where the candidates stand. Sure, the three debates will be broadcast statewide and probably streamed online, but that’s not the same as visiting a community and speaking directly to the people there. It’s one thing to look into a camera, something else entirely to look voters in the eye and answer questions important to them.

Some issues important in Eugene and Lane County might not be on the radar of debate moderators in Portland and Medford.

For example, let’s hear details from the candidates about how they would improve local education outcomes, not just grandiose statements about providing better funding statewide. Less than half of Lane County’s third graders read at grade level, and the rates dip precipitously among black and Hispanic students. Reading skills are a crucial indicator of a community’s success, and Oregon owes its young people better.

There needs to be more than one throwaway question about higher education, too. That’s too easy to brush off with a pat answer about how important it is to the economy. Really dig into the issue as it relates to universities, especially the flagship universities. What would Brown and Buehler do to constrain tuition increases and support research? A seasoned moderator could press them to go beyond soundbites.

And what about how they will support economic growth and social services in Eugene-Springfield and Salem, the state’s two mid-sized metro areas? At a debate in Portland, Brown and Buehler will be asked about major industries and huge economies. In Medford, the conversation no doubt will shift to rural concerns. It’s easy to forget that the cities with populations around 150,000 have their own needs.

Beyond local issues, there’s a simple question of respect. Do the candidates, especially Brown, who wanted fewer debates, respect Eugene, Salem, Central Oregon, the coast and the rest of the state not at the ends of I-5 enough to allow a front-row seat for a debate? Will they get outside the Portland bubble more than once?

The debates are compressed into just one week. Four years ago, the candidates spread their debates over months. That allowed Oregonians to digest what they heard at one debate and develop new questions for the next. It also allowed the campaigns to evolve and debate moderators to focus on new topics. In a week, not much will change. The early, tight scheduling also minimizes the chance of game-changing news late in the election season coming up at a debate.

Independent Party candidate Patrick Starnes has mostly been left out of the conversation despite the party having earned major party status in Oregon. He has only been invited to the first debate in Portland. If the other two debates don’t follow suit, they could come under scrutiny of federal regulators.

Time remains to allow a robust series of debates on a wide variety of issues. Can one of the Portland debates and move it to Eugene. Maybe add a fourth in Central Oregon. And spread them out. If the candidates prioritized facing off in front of voters, they could debate next week and hold one a week before ballots go out Oct. 17-22.