BATON ROUGE - Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter defended his planned absence in the latest TV debate in the Louisiana governor's race, saying his work in Washington is the culprit.

Vitter's three major rivals in the Oct. 24 election - Republican Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, Republican Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards - will face each other Wednesday night.

The senator, whose front-runner status has taken hits in recent polls, said the Senate has significant votes this week that can't be missed.

In an interview Vitter said: "I'm doing my job that I was elected to do. I'm not going to neglect that in any way." 

Wednesday's debate begins at 7 p.m. It will air on TV and radio stations around Louisiana.