Next and Final Debate: Candidates Pressured To Change Format

[jpertello]

Candidates pressured to change debate
By: Andy Barr
October 10, 2008 05:46 PM EST

After a thoroughly panned presidential debate, a wide-ranging coalition of activists on the left and the right is calling on Barack Obama and John McCain scrap the rules for the last presidential debate to avoid the stiff and scripted answers that many critics said deadened their earlier exchanges.

The group, which includes the likes of MoveOn, The Next Right, The Huffington Post and Wikipedia, sent a letter to the presidential candidates Friday pressuring them to change what they called a “lacking” debate that was lampooned as boring by Saturday Night Live.

At a minimum, the group demands that moderator Bob Schieffer be allowed to ask follow up questions to the candidates, who many believe have been allowed to skate through debates without being aggressively challenged on vague or non-responsive answers.

While the most recent debate did include questions from the Internet, the group is demanding that the candidate questioning be more transparent and accountable. To that end, the letter asks that questions be submitted and voted on online, and that the moderator be allowed “broad discretion” to follow up on the candidates' answers.

The final debate is Wednesday, Oct. 15. Go to link for full text of the letter:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14470.html

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Awesome! Can you hear that sound? That's people taking back their election! n/t

[bananas]

2. Next and Final Debate: you shit-heads are so fucked...