Hey, it never hurts to ask. Here is the email I just sent to Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, and Dennis Kucinich (for the others I had to send a shorter message via a web form as they had no email addresses).
Hi;
I think an online debate like the one the CO-2 House candidates have agreed to would be a really useful event for the voters. And I think all of you would enjoy it as it's different from all of the debates you have participated in so far. You get a number of positive things from participating:
- It's different, and that means you will get attention (press, blogs, and individuals) from the event.
- Voters who use the web to research candidates find it very useful.
- It will have a positive impact on your campaign.
- You don't have to stand there waiting your turn as you all answer simultaneously.
In terms of format, I think the format we had for the Boulder City Council debate worked great. With that said, if there are changes that you want, I am open to improvements.
The big question I think is who picks the questions. I would like to do it like I did for the two so far where the questions were a combination of ones submitted to my blog and ones I came up with (the even numbered ones). I think I made a fair selection that were not set up to favor any candidate. But if you would prefer someone else pick the questions and/or work with me to pick the questions, I am fine with that.
I do think asking for suggestions works well both because we get some very good questions and it makes all the people who submitted questions feel as they are part of the process (they are). And while I may be biased, I do think my questions were very good for the format.
Please reply all with your response.
Thanks - dave
Ps - this email is sent to all that had an email address on your website (thank you). The rest had a shorter message submitted via a form on their website.
