BIG NEWS:
If you have ever wanted to ask a question at a political debate, the Open Debate Coalition may be paving the way for you.
The group has organized a debate next week between two U.S. Senate candidate in Florida who will answer questions proposed and selected by an online community. The candidates, Republican Rep. David Jolly and Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson are running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Marco Rubio. Rep. Patrick Murphy, another Democratic candidate in the race, declined an invitation, organizers said.
The principle, as declared by the Open Debate Coalition members in a joint statement, is that "the public should be empowered to conceive and select debate questions – so that questions addressed by candidates represent the will of the people."
The Open Debate Coalition is hoping their "bottom-up Open Debate" format can become a model for other political debates, including presidential contests.
Anyone across the nation can vote. 100,000 votes have been cast. Take a look, vote, and let's make Open Debates the new norm.
This first-ever Open Debate for U.S. Senate -- where regular people submit and vote on questions in advance, and moderators must choose from among the top 30 questions -- will take place in Orlando, Florida on Monday, April 25 at 7pm EDT. So mark your calendar and watch live at FloridaOpenDebate.com
More big news: The Commission on Presidential Debates will be watching as they consider formats for the 2016 general election presidential debates:
Mike McCurry, co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said in a statement to the Open Debates group: "We’d be especially interested in any experiments or new technologies the Open Debates Coalition employs during the primary season to generate questions from the American public and put them – via a journalist/moderator – to the candidates. We have a working group exploring many ideas about debate formats and we hope to build on those things which are working to create a more vibrant public debate."
The more participation the Commission on Presidential Debates sees, the more likely they give the people the power to control the questions in presidential debates. Vote now!
The debate’s moderators will include The Young Turks, which is the #1 news channel on YouTube with over 3 billion views, and Independent Journal Review, a social-first mobile-first news company that reaches on average more than 35 million unique viewers each month. Here is The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur talking about the groundbreaking Open Debate format
Conservatives are voting. Make sure you vote today! (And mark your calendar: Monday, April 25, 7pm EDT, FloridaOpenDebate.com)