Republican U.S. House candidate Chris Lien said Friday that three upcoming television debates with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin will help him challenge the formidable incumbent on key campaign issues.

Those will include her alliances with liberal Democratic leadership in the House, Lien said.

The sequence of debates on Oct. 21, 24 and 27 will give the Rapid City businessman a chance to present his campaign priorities while challenging those of Herseth Sandlin, a better-funded, better-known candidate favored to win re-election.

"That's where I think people can see the differentiation, because we'll be sitting side by side, and people can see the differences," Lien said during a meeting with the Rapid City Journal Editorial Board. "To me, it's not about demonizing. It's about differentiating. I'm excited about having us answer the same questions at the same forum."

Lien said the debates, to air on South Dakota Public Television, KELO-TV in Sioux Falls and KOTA-TV in Rapid City, will give him a chance to challenge Herseth Sandlin's reputation as a political moderate. He said he wouldn't call her a moderate.

"Regardless of saying you're moderate as a Republican or moderate as a Democrat, when you join a party, you sign up for those principles," Lien said. "And so I stand for the principles of the Republican Party, and I assume she stands for the principles of the Democratic Party."

In the vast majority of her votes, Herseth Sandlin aligns herself with the liberal Democratic leadership, he said.

Herseth Sandlin spokesman Russ Levsen said that is unfounded campaign talk.

"These are the things we hear a couple weeks before the election," he said. "But the fact of the matter is, Stephanie has proven herself to be a moderate in the United States Congress. As a member of the Blue Dog Coalition - a group of self-professed fiscally conservative House members from both major parties - Herseth Sandlin is accustomed to setting party politics aside for legislation that is beneficial to South Dakota, Levsen said.

"She is proud of her record as South Dakota's independent voice in Congress and looks forward to talking to voters about that record during the debates," he said.

During the debates, Lien is likely to raise energy issues, including oil exploration and drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the Iraq war and the value of the surge and congressional votes on how unions can be formed at a local level.

The debates are particularly important to Lien, a first-time candidate for statewide office who continues to expand his name recognition and solicit campaign contributions. Lien admits that he has had difficulty defining differences in a non-controversial campaign with limited news coverage and campaign advertising.

He reported about $460,000 in contributions through the third-quarter reporting period, which ended Sept. 30. He expects to top the $500,000 mark by the Nov. 4 election.

Although lagging well behind Herseth Sandlin, who had raised about $1.3 million through the third quarter, Lien said he was satisfied that he had used his money wisely and effectively.

"I'm excited about the fact that we've got 1,100 donors across the state," he said. "Obviously, we'd like to have more money. But as I was telling my campaign manager, we've run the best campaign we could with the amount of money I had. And that's all I ask."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com