Hannity says the gloves could come off on May 4 or May 18 - and that any and all media outlets can cover it.

Late Wednesday, Anderson's spokesman, Patrick Thronson, said May 4 would work.

The only problem is the University of Utah plans to hold its commencement ceremony on that day in the Huntsman Center, the site where the U. student government has proposed to host the debate.

Thronson said May 18 would not work for the mayor.

The Associated Students of the University of Utah proposal calls for KUED's Ken Verdoia to moderate, which Anderson has agreed to as long as Verdoia has the final say over format. The mayor would not agree to having KSL as a co-sponsor, which ASUU wants.

But Salt Lake City's liberal mayor still has doubts Hannity will show.

"He's a fraud," Anderson said of Hannity Wednesday morning, less than a day after surviving a breathless browbeating - and being called a "kook" - in O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone." "Hannity gets on the air and blasts me for holding it up. We've tried in vain to get them to move on it."

For two weeks, each party has clamored for the clash but blamed each other for trying to scuttle a debate over the Iraq war and Anderson's repeated calls for the impeachment of President Bush.

Despite the standstill, the rubbernecking over the O'Reilly show may have whetted the public's appetite for more.

Following Tuesday's Fox News brawl, Utahns weighed in on local news outlets with hundreds of responses. Many partisans claimed their respective man the victor, while most blasted the affair as so much rhetoric between political blowhards.

During the six-minute segment, Anderson and O'Reilly immediately dove into a heated exchange over the Constitution and impeachment. "You don't know your constitutional history, Bill," the mayor said, insisting Bush's purported "abuses of power" and "breaches of trust" left both him and Vice President Cheney vulnerable to impeachment proceedings.

"You don't know what you are talking about!" O'Reilly countered. "You are foolish and you are subverting your own country . . .. You are a kook."

Anderson smiled at the retort: "Classic Bill, isn't it? [You] invite guests on to call them names . . .. Where I'm from, we ask people questions and give them the courtesy of answering without being interrupted."

On Wednesday, Anderson said every time someone gets the upper hand on O'Reilly, the talk show host "behaves like a child, throws a tantrum and calls people names."

"O'Reilly is extremely ill-informed and not even all that bright," the mayor continued.

"I hope his mother wasn't watching."

Anderson also was disappointed that segments of the interview were edited, a practice that he says was never disclosed by the network. Thronson says Hannity's team has yet to contact the mayor's office, but says the talk-show host called a KSL producer Wednesday to suggest the event be held on May 4 or May 18.

Multiple calls to Fox News producers from The Salt Lake Tribune have not been returned.

Hannity's offer was reported by KSL late Wednesday. Hannity went on to suggest KSL would not need the exclusive broadcast rights, noting he doesn't care which news media cover the event.

But e-mails obtained by The Tribune through an open-records request show otherwise.

In a March 12 missive, Hannity's producer told Thronson "Sean would like his Fox crew from 'Hannity & Colmes' to be permitted to tape the debate as well as for KSL, and only KSL radio, to carry the debate on their airwaves."

Anderson insists the forum should have open access and include a moderator.

Students from the University of Utah have approached KSL executives about hosting the event at the Huntsman Center, according to Rod Arquette, KSL vice president of news and communications.

But he says the notion of broadcast exclusivity - and therefore any chance for a debate - has yet to be decided.

"That," he said, "would be up for discussion."

djensen@sltrib.com