The Minnesota Electronic Democracy Project proudly presents the first ever on-line debate for U.S. Senate.
The Independent Republican candidate, Rod Grams, and the Democratic Farmer Labor candidate, Ann Wynia, have both agreed to participate. The League of Women Voters of Minnesota has endorsed and will possibly sponsor the debate. The Twin Cities Free-Net and the Minnesota Regional Network will provide technical support.
The Senate debate is planned to run from Monday, October 31 to Friday, November 4.
We remain committed, however, to hosting the first ever on-line debate for Governor of Minnesota as well. If the candidates agree to participate then the two debates will begin on Monday, October 24 and run through Friday, November 4.
We will, in any event, provide a fully secure forum where the candidates will respond to questions previously chosen by the on-line community. The candidates will than rebut an opponents response. This forum will be open for public view. Responses from the public, however, will not be allowed.
Instead, we will provide an un-moderated public discussion forum to which the debate will be forwarded.
To sign up for the public E-Debate follow the directions below. From there we will tell you how to get to the moderated forum.
For those interested parties, we have included an in depth explanation of "MN E-Democracy, E-Debates 1994", and directions to the E-Democracy Project via Gopher, WWW, telnet, etc.
Steven Clift
Scott Aikens
(Facilities provided by the Minnesota Regional Network)
MN-POLITICS is the unmoderated Internet electronic-mail list that will function as the public hall for the debates.
This forum is more about the presentation of ideas and information than being right with one's ideology. So please be respectful.
E-mail users with Internet access can SUBSCRIBE by sending the following command to:
An archive of messages sent to the MN-POLITICS mailing list is being kept by the Twin Cities Free-Net. The archive is accessible via World Wide Web, Gopher, and electronic mail -- messages are sorted chronologically, by subject, and by author name.
The Minnesota Electronic Democracy Project proposes to host two Electronic Debates, one for the Gubernatorial candidates and one for the U.S. Senate candidates.
The E-Democracy Project will prepare three electronic discussion lists that will be used as the forums for the debates.
All of the comments posted to the first list, the fully secure candidates forum, will be forwarded to the second and third lists, the open forums, where citizens can watch and participate in the debate at a distance from the candidates.
With the help of such organizations as the Twin Cities Free-Net, MRNet, and the Minneapolis Telecommunications Network, as well as the participation of hundreds of citizens across the country, the Minnesota E-Democracy Project has achieved astonishing results. In founding Minnesota E-Democracy only a few months ago, Steven Clift, has moved forward his and others vision for invigorating the democratic process through the use of the computer mediated communications.
The combination of state-level on-line campaign information and substantive political discussion is unparalleled anywhere in the country, if not the world. The E-Democracy Project has created a space on-line for the distribution of candidate position papers, and other information pertaining to the 1994 election season in Minnesota. The project has also created an on-line discussion forum, a proto-type for the "electronic town-hall", if you will.
It is this last element of the E-Democracy Project that captured the attention of Scott Aikens, a Doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge in England, studying the relationship between the new medium of communication and traditional media as these impact upon the democratic process. Mr. Aikens, who has worked in research at NBC News and at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York City, came to Minneapolis to observe and participate in this pioneer effort to improve upon the American democratic tradition.
In tracking the project, and discussing how computer mediated communications would come to reshape the American political landscape, Mr. Clift and Mr. Aikens agreed that an on-line candidates debate would make the fullest use of the interactive nature of the medium and have the most profound affect upon American society.
They concluded that an on-line debate could be structured to give the candidates a fully protected, non-partisan platform within which to conduct a substantive discussion of the issues. Simultaneously, a location (if you regard cyberspace as a place) already existed that would allow the citizenry an unprecedented degree of input into the debate and opportunity to participate, contributing their own ideas in an appropriate but separate forum.
Each debate will consist of three questions previously decided upon by the participants in cyberspace and approved by appropriate committees. These questions will be spread over a five day period. The candidates will be required to respond to each question and to rebut the other candidates original response to each question. The candidate must be involved with the formulation of the response and rebuttal. They are not, however, required to type or appear on-line in real time. This is the extent of the commitment required of the candidate. The debate is designed to minimize the time commitment for the candidate while maximizing the opportunity for substantive dialogue within the community. Further, given the fact that this will be the first official debate in cyberspace, we believe there will be a high amount of local, national and international media coverage .
So far we have had unanimous support for our efforts.
Again, therefore, we ask the various organizations that have the capability to make the E-Debates an unqualified success for their help. Currently, we have candidates, we have the League of Women's Voters, and we have technical support:
We need the continuing support of the on-line community. We will inform the appropriate individuals and organizations throughout the internet. This will increase participation in the event and exposure dramatically.
We also need the support of the traditional print and broadcast media. We feel these debates will make an important and entertaining news-story. An edited version of each debate, including the responses of the participants in the un-moderated forum, will provide a compelling look into the political future of Minnesota and the electronic future of the United States. Already, we have received an enthusiastic response from Ron Clark, the Opinion Page Editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Furthermore, we have the technology to promote this event locally, nationally, and globally.
This debate is an exciting opportunity for all concerned to participate in an unavoidable societal transformation. All of us involved with the E-Democracy Project are awed at this opportunity to play a role in a larger process which, if conducted competently, will result in the betterment of the democratic process for all concerned.
It is a matter of great importance to us that the National Information Infrastructure be constructed competently, so that its latent potential may be realized. It is our feeling that this responsibility, in part, rests on the young, on those who understand the new technology best.
This is the spirit in which the E-Debates have been conceived.
World-Wide-Web: http://freenet.msp.mn.us:8000/govt/e-democracy/
Gopher: free-net.mpls-stpaul.mn.us, port 8001
Twin Cities Free-Net Main Menu/ (through these folders)
The Government Center/
The Minnesota E-Democracy Project/
*The server is also listed on the "Mother" Gopher at the University
of Minnesota (gopher.tc.umn.edu) via the following path:
/Other Gopher and Information Servers/North America/USA/Minnesota/
Telnet: free-net.mpls-stpaul.mn.us - Login: guest - No password necessary.
20 minute time limit. VT100 terminal emulation advised.
E-mail Send the following e-mail message to
Retrieval: "Majordomo@Free-Net.Mpls-StPaul.MN.US" with the following
text (case-sensitive) in the message body: info E-Democracy
Thank you for participating in Minnesota E-Democracy 1994. Please send your
comments or questions to us at: E-Democracy@Free-Net.Mpls-StPaul.MN.US