Even though Ana Marie Cox has dissed next Monday's CNN/YouTube Democratic primary debate I went ahead and submitted a video of my question and have been successful at persuading some students from the U.S. and Europe at the summer program I am helping teach to submit their questions, too.
Odds are my question won't be featured in the debate itself. There are over 1000 questions already submitted at the submission site. And, unfortunately, there is no grassroots or netroots input into the selection of the questions, a fact that diminishes the debate's claim to "revolutionize" the process as TechPresident's Joshua Levy argues.
Nevertheless, the argument I used to persuade myself and others to submit questions in spite of the odds and the criticism goes as follows:
Well prepared candidates will have their advisors alert them to potential questions.
Potential questions the candidates will need to practice answering are ones that meet these three criteria: a) have not yet been asked in the debates; b) are about important and timely issues; and c) may be controversial within the Democratic candidates' field of opinion.
My goal was simple: get inside the head of a candidate or two by posing a question their debate advisers might use in a debate practice session. If I can get a candidate to think about how to best answer my question I am having an influence. My voice does matter.
Unique, important and challenging questions are a way for people to communicate directly to the campaigns whether or not the question ends up on the TV in the debate. A good candidate cannot risk ignoring any good question that might be asked.
I believe my question meets the three criteria stated above. Check it out and use the comments to let me know what you think of my question. Thanks.
