"He has an open invitation from me to appear with him any time, any place in the next 23 days any where in the state to enter into a joint appearance and/or a debate or some combination of them so that we can get the discussion right to the voters," Case said in a press conference following tonight's televised debate.

In a separate press conference, Akaka responded, "I've done it. I wanted to answer the call from my constituents and tonight I feel that I did it, and I want to spend the rest of the time working directly with people instead of doing it with a debate."

Neither candidate would say who they thought won the debate — and neither claimed victory.

"I don't know," Case said. "I'll let you guys figure that one out. I think I did what I wanted to do."

Rather than opting for another debate, Akaka said he will focus on meeting constituents until the Sept. 23 Democratic primary.

Case said he took some notes during the debate but was not reading off of prepared notes. And he criticized Akaka's use of notes during the debate, calling them a luxury that senators don't have on the senate floor.

But Akaka said many of his senate colleagues do use notes.

"This is done more than people think," Akaka said.

During the debate, Case said he was simply "trying to be myself."

He said he learned a long time ago that if you try to be someone else for political reasons, "It comes across as pretty fake."

Asked what he believed was the most significant difference between them during the debate, Case said "I'm really not sure. Frankly, listening to Sen. Akaka's answers there wasn't the clarity in the answers that would have allowed me to form a reasonable opinion on what the differences actually were.

"I think that if you wanted the most stark difference that came across in spades it was the Jones Act . . . and I articulated what I thought pretty directly — and I have for some time now — and Sen. Akaka expressed exactly the opposite view, so that was clearly something that the voters can sink their teeth into," Case said.