The Washington Times reports that Republican candidates are softening their opposition to participating in a YouTube debate:
Candidates’ reservations about the seriousness of the format, which features videotaped questions from voters, and the original September date are being resolved and the field is growing, said sources close to the campaigns and debate organizers. [...]
Initially, only two of the 10 declared Republican candidates agreed to participate: Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
The number is now at four and, the sources said, the full field could be announced as early as this week. The debate now likely will take place in November or December.
The article says that Mike Huckabee and Tommy Thompson are “on board,” and notes that Rudy Giuliani has been hinting that he’d be willing to consider doing a YouTube debate. Mitt Romney, who has been on the sharp end of some YouTube based attacks, is said to be holding out.
Ultimately it’s probably inevitable that all the candidates will participate. The candidates’ change of heart is coming about in part because of the work of Patrick Ruffini and his “Save the Debate” effort. Ruffini, one of the GOP’s most tech-savvy strategists, has argued that Republicans are being “outperformed” online and are in danger of losing the youth vote by a huge margin. As blinkered as the Republicans have been in office, they’re pretty smart politicians, and I don’t think they’ll continue to leave their online/youth flank completely unprotected. And as Soren Dayton notes, the whole thing could work out somewhat in the GOP’s favor, given that by the time the debate happens in November or December, a lot more people will be paying attention.
Something to say?
