Two well known conservative bloggers have started a petition on their new Web site save thedeabte.com to urge Republican presidential candidates to participate in the YouTube debate scheduled for September 17 in Florida.
The two bloggers Patrick Ruffini and David All say on their site that they have read reports that only two Republican candidates have agreed to participate in the YouTube debate. They say skipping the YouTube debate would be like the Democrats avoiding Fox News.
On their site it says,” As Republicans, we believe this is a serious mistake. Every Democratic candidate eagerly accepted the opportunity to answer questions from the American people via YouTube, even Hillary Clinton, the most cautious and calculating of the bunch.”
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said on Florida radio today,” I have no problem at all with the format. My campaign informed me yesterday that CNN just went ahead and picked a date, didn’t bother to ask us, and we have six events on that date that are already scheduled, I think.”
In a blog post Ruffini writes a response to Giuliani’s remarks. “That may well be, though fundraisers and political travel can be rescheduled. The historic significance of this as the first Internet-driven, user-generated debate is being lost.”
Ruffini and All also warn that not attending the YouTube debate will damage the Republicans with youth vote. “Republicans cannot write off the youth vote. A recent poll showed Democrats with a staggering 24-point advantage among 18 to 29 year old voters. Once a generation of voters is lost like this (just think of the New Deal or Reagan Generations) they are extremely difficult to get back.”
