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TUCSON - The battle for Congressional District-8 is well under way with the 3 candidates fighting hard, to claim victory.

The candidates Jesse Kelly, Ron Barber, and from the green party Charlie Manolakis are now gearing up for forum on Wednesday airing on PBS at 6:00

Thousands of dollars have already been spent on this race through multiple TV ads, signs, and billboards, but there's something to be said about getting all the candidates together to talk about the issues; something the candidates aren't taking for granted.

Republican Jesse Kelly said, "I think the people of Southern Arizona deserve to see the issues debated openly."

Democrat Ron Barber added, "The debate is going to allow us to point out a stark contrast between me and my opponents on these issues."

But the forums and debates are perhaps most important to the one unknown candidate in the bunch. Manolakis said, "This is a very important debate. I know the power of the media. I was fortunate to interact with them on other spheres but this is a very good sphere to interact. Give people a feel of who I am, what I am, and what my cause is and you can see I'm a we the people candidate."

So how do you prepare for something so important?

They said there's not much you can do other than be ready. Kelly said, "You either know the issues or you don't know the issues. We're very confident we know the issues. We know what people of Southern Arizona care about because it's what we care about."

Barber said, "The person who can explain their position clearly and support values of Southern Arizona is going to be the one that gets elected."

The candidates said they hope to cover all the issues, particularly one that's already proven to be one of the biggest, health care.