I'm excited to share that MoveOn is hosting a 2016 Presidential Forum—with questions from MoveOn members like you, and answers from Democratic presidential candidates.
MoveOn has invited all of the Democratic candidates, and Senator Bernie Sanders is the first to confirm he's in.1
To pull this off well—and reach millions of people with substantive conversation about some of the most important issues we face—we need your help asking critical questions that matter to the American people.
Will you ask the Democratic candidates for president a question? Just follow our simple instructions for how to make a 30-second homemade video of you asking your question—and it could be selected for the MoveOn 2016 Presidential Forum and answered by the participating candidates!
Here's how this will work:
- We've invited every Democratic candidate—Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Lincoln Chafee, and Lawrence Lessig. Already, Sen. Sanders has confirmed his participation.
- You and other MoveOn members submit questions for the presidential candidates—and your story about why that question is important to you—via video. Click here to do that now. The deadline to submit your video question is Monday, October 26, at 11:59 p.m. local time.
- You'll have an opportunity to weigh in on the questions you most want to hear the candidates answer.
- We'll sit down with every candidate who participates in the MoveOn 2016 Presidential Forum, sharing the top questions, pressing them for thoughtful, detailed responses, and filming their answers.
- We'll make a one-hour video special and stream it for the entire MoveOn community to watch and comment on together. And we'll post all the selected questions and answers online for the public to view.
Fifteen million people tuned in to the first Democratic presidential debate—the most for any Democratic debate ever. That's nearly 50% more people than tuned in to the most-watched debate of the highly contested 2008 presidential primary.2
And more people streamed the Democratic debate online than streamed the earlier Republican debate on the same network.3
It's clear that the American people want to hear from the candidates. But we've got to do this ourselves. Right now, there are just three more Democratic debates before the first contest—the Iowa caucuses on February 1. And all three are on weekends (one is on a holiday weekend and one is the weekend before Christmas)—not exactly times when lots of Americans are thinking about politics.
As a Washington Post columnist wrote after the first debate, "Quite frankly, America could benefit from watching a wider variety of people asking a bigger range of questions, period."4
That's what the MoveOn community can deliver.
Will you make a 30-second video with your question for the candidates? (We'll show you how; it's easy.)
Instead of emails and name-calling, this race should be about expanding Social Security benefits so that our seniors can live with dignity and peace of mind, and ensuring students can graduate from college with zero debt. It should be about unleashing American investment and ingenuity to tackle climate change by keeping fossil fuels in the ground. It should be about confronting systemic racism and ending mass incarceration so that every community can thrive.
In July 2007, all eight Democratic candidates for president (including Clinton, Obama, Edwards, and Biden) participated in MoveOn's Virtual Town Hall, which focused heavily on the Iraq War, climate change, and health care. Months later, MoveOn members voted to endorse then-Senator Barack Obama, and 1 million members volunteered for the campaign. Today, our community is more than twice as large as it was then—meaning we can and must do more to change our country.
Or, click here to get a reminder to submit your question later this week. The deadline to submit your video question is Monday, October 26, at 11:59 p.m. local time.
Thanks for all you do.
–Victoria, Joan, Milan, Ben O., and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Democrats Add Candidate Forum Amid Criticism Over Debate Schedule," Time, October 21, 2015
http://time.com/4080763/democratic-debates-moveon-forum/
2. "Democratic Debate Draws Over 15 Million to CNN, a Record for the Party," The New York Times, October 14, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=307870&id=134019-10220574-h5BiXXx&t=8
3. Ibid.
4. "Where were CNN's black and Latino debate moderators all night?" The Washington Post, October 14, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=307871&id=134019-10220574-h5BiXXx&t=9
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PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to eddie alfaro on October 21, 2015. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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