It won’t be primetime TV’s “Deal or No Deal,” but tonight’s Tracy Press Candidates Forum will be a big deal for the voters in judging the local congressional and Assembly candidates.

The race for the 11th Congressional District seat held tightly by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, for the past 14 years has already raised more than $4 million in campaign contributions. And the race for the open 17th Assembly District seat is almost certain to become a multimillion-dollar political affair before Nov. 7.

In front of this spending backdrop is tonight’s meeting on stage of local Republican and Democratic candidates. Some promoters in each political camp are billing tonight’s forum as a “knock ’em, sock ’em debate.” It isn’t, although the candidates can hook and jab verbally at each other as they answer questions from a Tracy Press panel of local op-ed columnists and written questions from the audience.

Since this apparently will be the only appearance on the same stage this fall for Pombo and his Democratic challenger, Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, and maybe one of only two public get-togethers for Assembly candidates Gerry Machado, R-Tracy, and Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton (the other is in Merced County), it’s critical for voters to compare and contrast the candidates’ real-time answers to the issues.

That’s why the Press has hosted such forums for more than 40 years — to weed out the campaign rhetoric from the honest answers to the important questions of today and tomorrow. We are proud that we can provide a forum for political discourse in a town hall setting like this where citizens can meet, greet and listen to the candidates. Technology allows viewers of Tracy Community Action Television, Channel 26, to watch the replays of this forum frequently before Election Day.

How important is tonight’s forum for the candidates All agree it’s very important. New polls and surveys show the congressional and Assembly races to be close. What the candidates say or don’t say tonight may have a bearing on the outcome of the election in a month and two days from now.

We invite you to tonight’s forum at Poet Christian Elementary School, 1701 S. Central Ave. Doors to the gymnasium open at 6, with Pombo and McNerney on stage at 7, followed by Machado and Galgiani at 8:30 p.m. If you cannot make it, video surf on Comcast cable to Channel 26 in the next days and weeks to witness this act of American-style democracy.