Minnesota Gubernatorial E-Debate - Oct. 2006

From Monday, October 9th through Thursday, October 19th the candidates for Minnesota Governor are debating exclusively online. Unlike an in-person debate, there is no scarcity of space on our stage. You get to decide who to view - anywhere, any time democracy at its best. Each week we will have two major themes with responses and rebuttals in the morning and each afternoon we will share a total of 10 candidate responses to short answer questions.

I’m Steven Clift, the host of the E-Debate, and I’d like to welcome the following candidates to the e-debate stage for their opening statements.

Welcome candidates …

• Governor Tim Pawlenty, Republican Party
• Attorney General Mike Hatch, DFL Party
• Peter Hutchinson, Independence Party
• Ken Pentel, Green Party
• Leslie Davis, American Party
• Walt Brown, Quit Raising Taxes Party

You’ve been given the option to provide your opening statement via an up to 4 minute video on YouTube or text. Thank you for being a part of the world’s first candidate debate launched with Internet video (via YouTube).

For those reading via the website, the most recent post is always listed on top (we are using blog software). Those reading via e-mail will need to click through to watch any videos or listen to any of the future rebuttals (should any come in via our optional telephone call-in number). On the right hand side of the website, posts will be sorted by candidate and question.

A big thanks goes out to the Blandin Foundation for helping co-sponsor this debate and their Broadband Initiative for the funding required to pull this off. You’ll notice a unique mix of general interest and Internet-related questions through out the debate.

So let’s get started!

Steven Clift
E-Debate Host

P.S. With each response we will rotate the order of the candidates. Also, here is my video welcoming you to the e-debate:

This is unedited proof that anyone can grab their webcam and record something to share via Voter Voices using YouTube and the simple tag “mnpolitics” to make it easy to find. ]