Democratic Debate

I had a phone call just before the debate began, telling me to watch it.

I am watching it. It was someone claiming to be from the Elaine Marshall campaign, a campaign consultant? ron campbell?

Can anyone explain that?

I have a ton of friends making calls for her candidacy.

And I encourage everyone to vote this week, or Saturday, or Tuesday.

We have a choice between two worthwhile candidates. Neither one is perfect, but surely one or the other has some qualifications or positions you would want to see represented in DC.

Just a senator. But someone to prefer over what NC has in DC right now.

I enthusiastically will work to win this seat.

Too much is at stake. Redistricting of congressional lines. Getting things done in DC that will make our democracy work better.

We can be a better country.

I've been worrying about controlling the chaos as moderator of the 6th District debate tomorrow night, so here are some groundrules I'm proposing after a night's research.

They're based on the usual "Presidential Debate" procedures established in 1988 when the League of Women Voters revived national political debating. No debate this year has really followed any standard format, mainly because they started out with large numbers of candidates which diminished through the process, so the time for responses has grown proportionately.

Any one is welcome to give me feed back here- these Ground Rules aren't carved in stone, and I haven't emailed them to the candidates or journalists yet (read it here first!) The debate will begin with each candidate having two (2) minutes to make a short opening statement, the order being determined in advance by draw.

At least one thing I saw from last night's Blue NC Democratic gubernatorial candidate 'debate' is that these innertube-type debates are really self-generating and self-replicating. It happens in real time, in black and white (or whatever the electronic equivalent is), and then traditional media types (tip o' the hat to Laura Leslie and Ryan Beckwith) come out of the lurkosphere to participate, elaborate and pontificate. Does that have a bigger impact than a "live" debate, even one where the questioners are newspaper reporters, but their employers don't deem the event sufficiently newsworthy for next-day coverage?

I guess that's the old 'if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest' conundrum.
But I've been personally interested since I'm the putative moderator at our 6th Congressional District Democratic Candidate Debate in Asheboro this Thursday night, and I've searched online for coverage of last week's comparable debate at Guilford College, and haven't found much.

cross posted @ mydd, openleft, prairiestateblue

Debate Schedule

August 7, 2007 - AFL-CIO Debate, Chicago, IL (MSNBC) 6-7:30 PM CST Link
August 9, 2007 - Los Angeles, California (LOGO TV/LOGOonline.com Live Streaming) 9PM EST Link
August 19, 2007 - Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa (ABC) 8PM
August 27-28, 2007 - Iowa, Cancer Forum (MSNBC) Moderators: Lance Armstrong and Chris Matthews
September 26, 2007 - Hanover, New Hampshire
October 30, 2007 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
November 15, 2007 - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 10, 2007 - Los Angeles, California
January 6, 2008 - Johnson County, Iowa
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008 - California

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly....

he's only human, guys....let's go....