Mark the date - Tuesday January 29, 7:00pm - 8:00pm, at this website.
It's over. And I think it was a useful forum for the voters - lots of interesting answers from the candidates, and some where it's interesting that they didn't actually answer the question asked. (If you have comments about the debate, please click here and post your comments.)
- Health Care - what one thing?
- What 3 role models for middle schoolers?
- Redistribution of income and wealth?
- What type of Representative will you be?
- What is your best and worst characteristic?
- In 100 years...
- How would you approach this job?
- What 1 Bill?
- How will you balance the budget?
- What responsibility should be returned to the states?
- Addressing the drug and prison population?
- Your bucket list?
We have a multitude of in-person debates where the candidates all stand up on a stage and answer questions, one at a time. We have a multitude of questionnaires where the candidates all answer questions submitted to them. But never before have we had an on-line debate.
The advantages of an in-person debate is it requires an immediate short concise answer. The disadvantages are that appearance and presentation sometimes matter more than content - and the candidate answering second gets to hear the other's answer before they answer.
The advantages of written questionnaires is that each candidate is answering equally and it gives time and space for long nuanced complete answers. The disadvantage is that in many cases the answers are reviewed and revised by the candidate's staff to the point that the candidates voice has disappeared from them.
With the on-line debate we combine the best of both approaches. They have 5 minutes/question so there is barely time for the candidates to write an immediate answer. The answers are in the candidates voice and from their gut as with an in-person debate. However, candidates answer simultaneously so they do not know the other's answer first. And candidate appearance and presentation is unknown - they may be in pajamas and bunny slippers while answering for all we know.
As far as I know, this type of debate has never occurred in an election before anywhere (except for the single one I did for the Boulder City Council). We are breaking new ground here in using the web to provide a unique and valuable way to learn about the candidates. Just like the first TV debate, this is political history in the making.
And a big thank you to Joan Fitz-Gerald, Jared Polis, and Will Shafroth for agreeing to participate. This is uncharted territory and they will be posting live, quickly and without a net. They all deserve credit for giving an unqualified yes to participating.
Note: I am asking the Democratic presidential candidates if they would be willing to do one of these too (no answer yet...).
If you are curious about the details, click here for the rules.
Press about the debate:
- FOX News
- Colorado Daily (no link)
- Colorado Confidential
- ColoradoPols
