SPRINGFIELD - Just days after the primary election, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has proposed 10 debates with his Republican challenger, State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka.

A spokeswoman for Blagojevich, a Democrat, said he would like to have debates in all parts of the state, but no specific locations have been determined.

The governor proposed monthly debates that would become more frequent closer to the election, Nov. 7.

"I see no reason to crowd these important debates into September or October," Blagojevich said. He said he would like the debates to start as early as April.

The Topinka campaign said they will work with Blagojevich to reach an agreement on a final number.

"We will definitely debate the governor, and whether we come up a number of 10 at the moment or something else, we're definitely looking forward to debating him," said Rodger Germann, spokesman for Topinka.

During his primary campaign, Blagojevich refused to debate his challenger, Edwin Eisendrath, while Topinka participated in several exchanges with her Republican challengers.

In his first run for governor in 2002, Blagojevich debated Republican Jim Ryan four times.

Crystal Lindell can be reached at crystal.lindell@;lee.net or 789-0865.