The debate season kicks off next Sunday, October 7th when Chris Murphy and Linda McMahon face off in their first debate of campaign 2012.    The two will square off in an hour long live Face the State debate.   What can we expect?

To answer that, we turned to two people who have faced McMahon and Murphy in debates.    Former Congressman Rob Simmons debated McMahon in 2010, and former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz debated Murphy this year.

During a taping of Face the State,  Bysiewicz and Simmons told me what we will likely see in the upcoming debate, and both defended their former rivals whom they had attacked during their campaigns.    They also offered advice to the candidates, and filled the role of campaign surrogates for Murphy and McMahn, respectively, despite the bad blood between them and their former opponents.

Both Simmons and Bysiewicz lost bitter battles to McMahon and Murphy, yet during the taping they eloquently promoted their parties’ senate standard bearers.   Simmons told me how he is now on social security and does not believe for a second McMahon would jeopardize that program.    Bysiewicz, who failed in her bid to become Connecticut’s first female senator, effortlessly repeated the Murphy campaign talking points that  Murphy is better for women than the woman in the race. 

We also talked about their own political futures.

You can watch this very spirited discussion, this Sunday morning at 11 on Face the State, only on Channel 3. 

UPDATE:  watch the segment right here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7778389

 Read all about the debate right here: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/mcmahon-murphy-to-square-off-in-first-debate-october-7/