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Singer/songwriter Carole King brought you the song “You’ve Got a Friend.” Hip-hop impessario Russell Simmons brought the song “Walk This Way.” Now, they’re bringing you rival congressional candidates.

I've been watching the Reshma Saujani and Carolyn Maloney's one-sided spat about debates. To help me understand the value of this fight in the grand scheme of things, Democratic consultant Michael Oliva offers his thoughts:

I've been milling this over in my brain.  

Has calling on a candidate, who is way ahead, to a debate, by the candidate who is way behind, EVER worked, because...

A) The candidate way ahead caved to pressure, debated, and did so badly they lost the election, or...

B) The candidate way ahead refused to debate, and received such bad publicity, they nosedived and lost

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't think of one instance of either A or B ever happening.

That's how you know it's the mark of death.  It's because a campaign is putting their emotion and frustration ahead of good strategy, because they feel they have exhausted all other options, even though they know the tactic won't work.  If the people COULD ONLY SEE how much better we are THEN they'd get it and vote for us.

...and even if true how many people ever even see?

Democratic congressional candidate Reshma Saujani has produced a Web video slamming Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney for declining an invitation to debate.

Democratic congressional candidate Reshma Saujani was part of a Fox News panel this morning discussing, among other things, the Islamic center slated for near Ground Zero.

I’m told Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) will be out of state and not attending Rep. Charlie Rangel’s birthday event. She’ll be out of town for a personal family meeting, according to someone familiar with the plans.

The latest person in calling for Rep. Charlie Rangel to step down is Reshma Saujani, the Democratic challenger to Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

And Saujani is roping Maloney into the story.

Saujani:

"Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney should immediately call for the resignation of Congressman Charles Rangel.

"There is a direct connection between New York's jobs crisis and our state's political crisis.  We cannot continue to look the other way as our elected officials continually lower the bar instead of raise it, create scandals instead of solutions, and hold New York back instead of move our city forward.  We cannot continue to tolerate ethical transgressions and economic stagnation in the name of political expediency and loyalty.

"There are reports that Congresswoman Maloney may be attending Congressman Rangel's birthday party next week. But these 13 charges against Congressman Rangel are serious allegations, not cause for a lavish birthday celebration -- and our elected officials should not be joining him.  

"It is time for New York to demand principled leadership and progress. Congressman Rangel has had a long and distinguished career. But that's no reason to excuse his conduct -- or the conduct of any number of entrenched politicians in this city. It is time for Congressman Rangel to step down, and end his career with dignity, as President Obama stated last week. We need to make way for a new generation of leaders committed to a political and economic renaissance in New York."

Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney declined to accept an invitation from Baruch College to debate her Democratic opponent, Reshma Saujani.

After Saujani e-mailed to say that she accepted the college's invitation, I asked Maloney's campaign spokeswoman if the congresswoman would also.

Here's the response I got:

 Right now, Carolyn is fighting to get our economy back on track. Having secured billions of dollars for the 2nd  Avenue Subway and Eastside Access, creating jobs remains her top priority. As always, Carolyn is focused on talking  directly to voters about their concerns and ideas.

The debate about whether to debate usually favors the challenger, since it’s an easy way to look substantive, and good government groups often cringe at debate-avoidance. But Maloney has a lengthy and notable career in Congress, which she and her campaign are eager to discuss. Usually.

Here’s the New York State Democratic Party’s latest video, dubbing Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio “a Bonus Baby,” for getting $1.3 million from JP Morgan, which received federal aid during the Wall Street meltdown.

The ad, it’s worth noting, is not coming directly from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo’s campaign, but it’s clear the way they want to handle Lazio is by tying him personally to Wall Street, bonuses and bailouts.

The goal is force Lazio into defending Wall Street, which isn't too common right now, as this front-page Washington Post story about Democratic congressional candidate Reshma Saujani makes clear.

Andy Hawkins kicks the ball down the field:

Some think that if [challenger Reshma] Saujani can win at least 40 percent of the vote against [Rep. Carolyn] Maloney, then it will unleash a flurry of interest in her kind of insurgent candidate: young, tech-friendly and no enemy of Wall Street.

[Sen. Kirsten] Gillibrand, though a prodigious fundraiser in her own right, is still seen as vulnerable to a challenge. Some of the thinking surrounding [Diana] Taylor’s future assumes that as the end of [Mayor] Bloomberg’s term nears, the two will get married, providing a lavish, if unofficial, launch to Taylor’s hardly secret political ambitions ahead of 2012. Or smaller scale: the Maloney paranoia has Taylor, or perhaps her compatriot Maureen White—who have both been twisting arms furiously to kick up opposition to Maloney—using Saujani as a stalking horse for their own Congressional ambitions next time around.

Here’s Democratic congressional candidate Reshma Saujani greeting her latest interviewer, Sarina Jain around the 2 minute mark: “Did you use to teach at the New York Sports Club?”

Jain is a notable fitness teacher who teaches the Masala Bhangra Workout. The target audience here is clear: younger voters and Southeast Asians.

At the 3:13 mark, Saujani hits her opponent, Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney:

“A campaign like this has just never been run before in New York. We’re the first people to get on the ballot, first person to get on the ballot in about twenty years because she’s kicked everyone off the ballot before that.”

Maloney's record of clearing the ballot of primary challengers is something that came up when she was preparing to run her own primary against Senator Kristen Gillibrand.

Queens-born NBA player Ron Artest is the latest supporter featured on Democratic congressional candidate Reshma Saujani’s web site.

Artest--whose Queensbridge Houses are in the 14^th Congressional District--is seen here holding a piece of Saujani campaign literature. Along with Wall Street employees, Saujani is trying to cultivate a following among younger voters. Sauajni is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who was elected to Congress in 1992.

Saujani recently had a fund-raiser featuring artist John Legend and has rubbed elbows with Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter.

Artest would undoubtedly be part of that younger voter outreach. But, there may be a drawback. Artest is most famous for launching into the crowd at an Indiana Pacers game in what is thought to be the worst brawl in the sports history. To his credit, he has been behaving himself since.

The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights legislation--which recently became law--is a very big deal to Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney's campaign, and the subject of her latest mailer piece.

The mailer is basically an excerpt of a profile about her that appeared in Money magazine last year. Her opponent, Reshma Saujani, was recently featured in the Washington Post, but isn't likely to use any of its content in a mailer.

If there's one moment where congressional candidate Reshma Saujani squirms a little during her interview with Adam Dickter of The Jewish Week, it's around the 3:30 mark, when he asks her if Israel should be permitted to keep its settlements.

Reshma Saujani isn't the only one sending out campaign mail in the 14th congressional district.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney is not accepting an invitation to debate her Democratic opponent, Reshma Saujani.

Saujani sent a letter last month inviting Maloney to six “respectful and robust debates.”

Maloney’s campaign declined, calling it a "political stunt."

Maloney's spokeswoman emailed me to say, “While the Congresswoman is creating jobs ...

Colleague Beth Fertig got her hands on this mail piece from Democratic congressional challenger Reshma Saujani, which hits Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat, on immigration.