It's one of the clumsiest political stunts in recent memory. And, to no one's surprise really, it has Bryan Eppstein's fingerprints all over it.

Two weeks ago, state Senate candidate Wendy Davis received an invitation from the Fort Worth Police Officer's Association to appear at a debate with Republican incumbent Kim Brimer. The event was scheduled for October 27.

That same evening Davis, the Democratic challenger, was set to appear at a debate hosted by WFAA-Channel 8. A few weeks earlier, the cigar-chomping Brimer pulled out of that contest for reasons that remain unclear -- but our guess is that the prickly pol didn't like how station detailed how he used campaign money to pay his wife rent.

In any case, Brimer may have been more at ease at the debate hosted by the cops. That's because both the Fort Worth Police Officer's Association and Kim Brimer share the same high dollar consultant: Bryan Eppstein. But the home cooking doesn't stop right there: Even better, the host of the debate is -- wait for it -- another Eppstein client: Tarrant County Regional Water District board member Jim Lane, who also served on the Fort Worth City Council with a slew of other Eppstein clients.

Dizzy much?

In any case, hold your breath here as we recap this scheme: Two of Brimer's campaign consultants' clients are putting on a hastily arranged debate with challenger Wendy Davis scheduled for the same day as the WFAA showdown that Brimer dropped out of after the station reported about his sloppy ethics.

The sad thing about this stunt is not that it's cheap and dirty -- it's both those things -- but that it's woefully ineffective. Was the goal here to claim that Davis is ducking Brimer? Who's going to buy that?

Me thinks, Eppstein needs to update his playbook. Or at least slash his prices. We'll see if these tactics work on Tuesday. For now at least, we can decry them as foolish and deceitful.