A spokesperson for the Crombie campaign, speaking on background this morning, said that Mahoney changed his plans at the "last minute."

King knew 24 hours beforehand that Mahoney would attend, he indicated.

When informed that Mahoney was going to be able to attend Friday night, "we made it very clear that we were sorry not to be there because she had made other plans," the spokesman said.

Crombie attended the Trillium Health Foundation Diwali event, as well as several others that night.

I was told early in the week that Mahoney would not be on the campaign trail Wednesday or Thursday, but the Friday night debate was still a possibility, to be determined later.

Whatever original arrangement was made between the two candidates, it's clear Crombie had time to attend if she'd chosen to.

There was a grey area about her potential attendance, so she likely took the opportunity to stay away.

As a strategic campaign decision, it makes lots of sense. When you're in the lead, or think you are, you want to minimize your risk of exposure and error.

The Crombie camp will take the flak from King as a sign that they are winning the war, which may very well be.

But King is clearly the most credible of the other 13 never-been-elected candidates in the race. His passionate, vociferous attack on Crombie's tactics should not be taken lightly.

It also makes you wonder if there is some credence to Mahoney's ongoing contention that Combie has trouble winning respect from peers.

The final mayoral debate in the campaign, sponsored by the UTM student's union, is supposed to take place tomorrow night. Apparently, there's some doubt about whether it will go ahead as planned.

If it does, Ms. Crombie would be very wise to be there.