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Monday's Online Debate for Vermont Lt. Gov

by: odum

Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 12:45:00 PM EDT

Here's the format for GMD's Monday, 12:00 noon online debate between Democratic Lieutenant Governor candidates Rep. John Tracy and Sen. Matt Dunne. As always, it's subject to some tweaking. As it stands, it doesn't look like there will be opportunities for questions from viewers, but that *may* not be set in stone depending on how the software looks and how much time the candidates have. This will be a short debate, as myself and the other GMD bloggers working on this will be on our lunch breaks...

odum :: Monday's Online Debate for Vermont Lt. Gov

To view, return to this site a few minutes before noon and follow the directions. You will need to enter a user name to view the chat, but without any password (and you will not be able to write into the chat room). Obscene or insulting chat names will filtered and blocked or ejected from the room.

There will be only 9 questions. Approximately 5 will be issue-based. In terms of policy, these guys are nearly indistinguishable, so these questions will attempt to show some daylight between the two without delving into too much minutiae. Another couple questions will be on leadership-slash-character topics. There will be a "philosophy of governance" question, and also a question that will invite each candidate to contrast themselves with the other. For this contrast question, each candidate will be given a 30 second rebuttal. In the case of the other questions, a 30 second rebuttal will only be triggered if a candidate characterizes their opponent in the course of their normally allotted 90 second answer. Candidates will be given a brief opportunity for opening and closing remarks.

These time limits are not hard and fast - that is, there wont be a buzzer if they're a little off. There will also be a parallel "live blogging thread" on GMD proper for folks who want to make comments.

Jack McCullough and Vermonter will be onsite with each of the candidates to verify they (or their appointed typist, if they don't type very quickly) are indeed answering the questions themselves and aren't doing any cutting-and-pasting from crib sheets.

This should be a lot of fun! If it goes as well as I think it will, it opens up the possibility of more (and longer) debates down the road, that may not have to be so "low tech" (at the very least we could graduate to webcams!). If you have any questions/comments, email me via the contact button atop the page.

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