Raising A Governor's Debate

It's hard enough sitting down months in advance planning a debate for the Democratic candidates for governor of Virginia. It's even harder when, one month before said debate is supposed to be happening, you start to find out about numerous other debates around the same time.

We are looking for a few good.....gubernatorial candidates. As we find out about other gubernatorial debates in April, we would like to push for our own.

The Southwest Virginia Young Democrats, swvayd.com, are planning a gubernatorial debate for Saturday, April 25th at 7pm in the John S. Battle High School Auditorium in Bristol, VA. We've asked all the campaigns to attend our debate, and we're still waiting on all the okays. Let's make it a bit more enticing, shall we?

Statewide television media have been invited and some have already agreed that they will be present, and C-SPAN has been invited to cover the event live. Two other stations that cover Southwest VA have also agreed to tape the debate and show it numerous times on local channels in its entirety. The questions have been submitted by citizens, or homefolk, of Southwest VA, so you(the candidates) know you're able to respond directly to the public's questions. On-site attendance for the debate, which will be publicized immensely, is expected to top 700. This number does not include the 300, 000+ people in the Tri-Cities television market, which includes Southwest Virginia.

The SWVA Young Democrats have been working for months to ensure a successful Democratic gubernatorial debate, and we would greatly appreciate if all three candidates running for the Democratic nomination would agree to participate in our debate. This debate will also be used to generate more interest in the Young Democrats, as our charter covers the entire 9th Congressional District.