There are 97 comments.

1. Inactive
   Aaron Miller

   @AaronMiller

   2:23 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   barbara lydick: It seems that 30 minutes provides ample opportunity for someone to feed answers, quotes, stats, etc., to the candidates, together with a bit of playing around with the video.

   That’s acceptable. The measure of a President isn’t generally his immediate reaction to a problem. It’s his decisive judgment after pursuing education and advice.

   If a campaign manager or advisor is whispering in a candidate’s ear while he forms his answers off-screen, I don’t mind because the advice and preparation he chooses to apply to his answer speak to his judgment.

   If he isn’t comfortable communicating in his own words, that tells us something about him, too.

2. Inactive
   CuriousJohn

   @CuriousJohn

   2:27 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   Aaron Miller:It would help to identify the primary goals of the Ricochet format (whatever it is), as opposed to traditional TV debates. What problems does it seek to amend or to uniquely offer?

   1. Eliminate the pro-Democrat bias. Ask questions that Republican primary voters would care about and prioritize.
   2. Provide more time to candidates both for consideration and for explanation.
   3. Better organization of rebuttals. Instead of rewarding the quickest response, provide every candidate with an opportunity to respond to each other’s initial answers.
   4. Facilitate diverse means of distribution for online sharing.

   Anything else?

   I would let the candidates ask a single question to all the other candidates.

3. Thatcher
   Dick from Brooklyn

   @DickfromBrooklyn

   

   Post author

   2:28 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   Aaron Miller:

   barbara lydick: It seems that 30 minutes provides ample opportunity for someone to feed answers, quotes, stats, etc., to the candidates, together with a bit of playing around with the video.

   That’s acceptable. The measure of a President isn’t generally his immediate reaction to a problem. It’s his decisive judgment after pursuing education and advice. Then you said it better. :)

   If a campaign manager or advisor is whispering in a candidate’s ear while he forms his answers off-screen, I don’t mind because the advice and preparation he chooses to apply to his answer speak to his judgment.

   If he isn’t comfortable communicating in his own words, that tells us something about him, too.

   Again – wish I had said that.

   I was just typing an additional response about how a sitting President has never needed to display the skills that he honed for debates. The current format is kabuki-theater for egomaniacs.

4. Thatcher
   Dick from Brooklyn

   @DickfromBrooklyn

   

   Post author

   2:30 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   CuriousJohn:

   Aaron Miller:It would help to identify the primary goals of the Ricochet format (whatever it is), as opposed to traditional TV debates. What problems does it seek to amend or to uniquely offer?

   1. Eliminate the pro-Democrat bias. Ask questions that Republican primary voters would care about and prioritize.
   2. Provide more time to candidates both for consideration and for explanation.
   3. Better organization of rebuttals. Instead of rewarding the quickest response, provide every candidate with an opportunity to respond to each other’s initial answers.
   4. Facilitate diverse means of distribution for online sharing.

   Anything else?

   I would let the candidates ask a single question to all the other candidates.

   Heck yes.

   This is a good example of how deconstructing today’s ossified format would enable lots of interesting things. The Internet is great at eliminating or minimizing time and space constraints like this.

5. Inactive
   James Of England

   @JamesOfEngland

   2:36 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   Aaron Miller:To James’s point about learning to crawl before we walk, Ricochet has from its inception been a national site with its main focus on national politics and trends. Ricochet has a national (even international) audience.

   Consequently, a debate concerning a national election is precisely where its arrangements should begin.

   But a series of debates for local elections isn’t a bad idea.

   Ricochet, or at least Rob Long, has always wanted to be a site with a local focus, though. We don’t have the massive Washington press corps that other news sites (and for debate purposes, that’s what we are) do. We have lots of people in the states, though. We followed the Act 10 struggles with lots of stories.

   More importantly, the Senate is a Federal institution. The issues Senators face are mostly the same whether they’re in Florida or Ohio, Utah or Texas. If we’re not competent to ask them about the local stuff (and I think we are), then we would certainly be competent to ask them about foreign policy and such. I agree that governors would probably need to be in a state with heavy representation to make things work, but we have some of those.

   Missouri is up next year, there’s a fair number of Ricochetti with either Missouri residence or ties. It’s a competitive open seat.

   Mendel: The format would have to be tweaked a little bit if it were to be a more traditional head-to-head debate, but those problems seem much more surmountable than trying to invent a completely untested internet format.

   We had a “candidate’s forum” before the first debate, in which each candidate except Trump had two five minute or so interviews. I thought that that was pretty good, and Peter could definitely manage it well. I agree that this seems like a good idea.

   Managing a pit floor style debate is a different skill, though, and I’m not sure that it’s one that anyone with Ricochet has much practice at. If we could try with the Missouri governor’s primary or Colorado, Florida, Indiana, or Oregon Senate primaries, and have a “candidate’s forum” style event, that would be a pretty good basis for a traditional Presidential debate next time round.

   It would also be helpful to have candidates do what Santorum did last cycle and make a few posts to Ricochet, engaging in the comments. Sadly, that probably wouldn’t be something that would be easy to get from the leaders, but I bet Fiorina would be interested; maybe Paul, maybe Huckabee. Santorum’s been game before, and he and Jindal don’t have anything better to do (or Jindal won’t after he steps down as governor). Heck, maybe Carson might (that would be fun).

6. Podcaster
   Dave Carter

   @DaveCarter

   2:56 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   CuriousJohn:I would love to see a Ricochet member be nominated to represent “us little people”, to chime in with the Big Foots maybe as a cameo . I’m not sure if Contributors can be viewed as “us little people” but if they can, I nominated Dave Carter.

   I gotta say, …I could enjoy that.  May I bring along a copy of Jeb’s Liberty Medal citation to Hillary?

7. Thatcher
   Concretevol

   @Concretevol

   3:05 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   Spin:I just can’t imagine what a debate would be like if the moderators were people whose goal was to help Republican voters decide who they should vote for, as opposed to moderators whose goal is to help America elect another Democrat.

   Even better, moderators who aren’t just trying to get the candidates to argue with each other or comment on what Trump has said about them.  lol

8. Inactive
   Aaron Miller

   @AaronMiller

   3:15 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   James Of England: If we’re not [?] competent to ask them about the local stuff (and I think we are), then we would certainly be competent to ask them about foreign policy and such.

   Voting participation hasn’t depended upon competence in many decades. In any electoral debate, representation of common voter priorities should be the primary concern.

   A common interest, however foolish or poorly informed, is most useful in determining which candidate best represents a majority of voters.

9. Thatcher
   Dick from Brooklyn

   @DickfromBrooklyn

   

   Post author

   3:26 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

   Thanks editors for putting this on the main feed! So many great comments with arguments for and against and some great additions to improve the concept.

10. Inactive
    James Of England

    @JamesOfEngland

    3:32 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

    Aaron Miller:

    James Of England: If we’re not [?] competent to ask them about the local stuff (and I think we are), then we would certainly be competent to ask them about foreign policy and such.

    Voting participation hasn’t depended upon competence in many decades. In any electoral debate, representation of common voter priorities should be the primary concern.

    A common interest, however foolish or poorly informed, is most useful in determining which candidate best represents a majority of voters.

    I thought that you were pointing out that we wouldn’t necessarily be the best informed audience for a debate on, say, North Dakota issues. I agreed somewhat, which is why I didn’t list the ND Gubernatorial primary in my likely chances. We have very able oil guys, but I’m betting their election is mostly about other issues.

11. Thatcher
    Concretevol

    @Concretevol

    4:20 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

    In an interview post CNBC debate Rubio was lamenting the fact that he expected the debate to be focused on the economy and planned on discussing his economic plans for the country.  If one has a serious plan to discuss then doing debates in this format should be very appealing.  I don’t agree it is that complex and we need to play “small ball”.  Good god Fred Cole could wing it and be better than those clowns CNBC put out there.

12. Inactive
    CuriousJohn

    @CuriousJohn

    4:37 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

    Dick from Brooklyn:

    CuriousJohn:

    Aaron Miller:It would help to identify the primary goals of the Ricochet format (whatever it is), as opposed to traditional TV debates. What problems does it seek to amend or to uniquely offer?

    1. Eliminate the pro-Democrat bias. Ask questions that Republican primary voters would care about and prioritize.
    2. Provide more time to candidates both for consideration and for explanation.
    3. Better organization of rebuttals. Instead of rewarding the quickest response, provide every candidate with an opportunity to respond to each other’s initial answers.
    4. Facilitate diverse means of distribution for online sharing.

    Anything else?

    I would let the candidates ask a single question to all the other candidates.

    Heck yes.

    This is a good example of how deconstructing today’s ossified format would enable lots of interesting things. The Internet is great at eliminating or minimizing time and space constraints like this.

    I organize an online debate for the Wisconsin State Senate race (after we we forced a Recall of the State Senator). The format worked by each candidate asking questions. And  it worked well for the one candidate that was brave enough to try it.  you can see it at  http://d22onlinedebate.blogspot.com/

    Here’s the press release

    

13. Inactive
    CuriousJohn

    @CuriousJohn

    4:43 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

    CuriousJohn:

    Dick from Brooklyn:

    CuriousJohn:

    Aaron Miller:It would help to identify the primary goals of the Ricochet format (whatever it is), as opposed to traditional TV debates. What problems does it seek to amend or to uniquely offer?

    1. Eliminate the pro-Democrat bias. Ask questions that Republican primary voters would care about and prioritize.
    2. Provide more time to candidates both for consideration and for explanation.
    3. Better organization of rebuttals. Instead of rewarding the quickest response, provide every candidate with an opportunity to respond to each other’s initial answers.
    4. Facilitate diverse means of distribution for online sharing.

    Anything else?

    I would let the candidates ask a single question to all the other candidates.

    Heck yes.

    This is a good example of how deconstructing today’s ossified format would enable lots of interesting things. The Internet is great at eliminating or minimizing time and space constraints like this.

    I organize an online debate for the Wisconsin State Senate race (after we we forced a Recall of the State Senator). The format worked by each candidate asking questions. And it worked well for the one candidate that was brave enough to try it. you can see it at http://d22onlinedebate.blogspot.com/

    Here’s the press release

    

    Here’s the link to the with the questions posted from Jon and the responses he gave to questions from others.

    http://d22onlinedebate.blogspot.com/p/jon.html

14. Inactive
    CuriousJohn

    @CuriousJohn

    4:45 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

    Dave Carter:

    CuriousJohn:I would love to see a Ricochet member be nominated to represent “us little people”, to chime in with the Big Foots maybe as a cameo . I’m not sure if Contributors can be viewed as “us little people” but if they can, I nominated Dave Carter.

    I gotta say, …I could enjoy that. May I bring along a copy of Jeb’s Liberty Medal citation to Hillary?

    As “The Man”, you can bring anything you want.

15. Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn

    @DickfromBrooklyn

    

    Post author

    5:04 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

    CuriousJohn:Here’s the press release

    

    This is awesome! Substance! Composure! Bravery!  I’ll vote for the guy!
    With better production and some orchestration, I could see how this could work great for the presidential primary.

16. Member
    Augustine

    @SaintAugustine

    7:41 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 30, 2015

    Main Feed promotion: Well done, Dick from Brooklyn.

    Now I hope we get the idea promoted to where someone actually works on it.

17. Inactive
    Chris Johnson

    @user_83937

    7:25 AM EDT ⋅ Oct 31, 2015

    Aaron Miller: Aaron Miller barbara lydick: It seems that 30 minutes provides ample opportunity for someone to feed answers, quotes, stats, etc., to the candidates, together with a bit of playing around with the video. That’s acceptable. The measure of a President isn’t generally his immediate reaction to a problem. It’s his decisive judgment after pursuing education and advice. If a campaign manager or advisor is whispering in a candidate’s ear while he forms his answers off-screen, I don’t mind because the advice and preparation he chooses to apply to his answer speak to his judgment. If he isn’t comfortable communicating in his own words, that tells us something about him, too.

    I side with Aaron on this and don’t think the allowed time should be considered an opportunity for shenanigans.  These candidates are running for an office that requires filtering streams of advice, then developing responses.  I want to SEE the product of that process, as offered by the candidates.

    As a Floridian, I perhaps hear/read more from the staff side of the Bush campaign than do others. I am confident that the general perception of his efforts brightly reflects the quality of the people he has advising him.  Let’s see that with everybody!

18. Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn

    @DickfromBrooklyn

    

    Post author

    9:39 AM EDT ⋅ Oct 31, 2015

    Augustine:Main Feed promotion: Well done, Dick from Brooklyn.

    Now I hope we get the idea promoted to where someone actually works on it.

    I think that we owe the credit for that to Concrete Vol. thanks!

19. Contributor
    Rob Long

    @RobLong

    1:24 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 31, 2015

    This is a GREAT idea.

    A GREAT idea!

    How do we make it happen??

20. Coolidge
    PJS

    @PJS

    

    2:21 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 31, 2015

    Rob Long:This is a GREAT idea.

    A GREAT idea!

    How do we make it happen??

    Talk to Dick!!!!!

21. Thatcher
    Concretevol

    @Concretevol

    2:28 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 31, 2015

    Rob Long:This is a GREAT idea.

    A GREAT idea!

    How do we make it happen??

    Rob, I have been promoting and sharing this idea all over the place with a lot of people, especially younger politically active people.  The response has been overwhelmingly positive.  There is plenty of talent on the membership side to take care of the tech side of this without relying on Yeti to take on yet another task.  Who can get these campaign managers and candidates on board?  Why would they not jump at the chance to use an alternative to the MSM?

22. Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn

    @DickfromBrooklyn

    

    Post author

    8:16 AM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    Rob Long:This is a GREAT idea.

    A GREAT idea!

    How do we make it happen??

    Off the top of my head…

    1. Improve the proof of concept: The proof of concept we built as a YouTube channel with playlists works, but in order to entice the campaigns, we should probably (a) setup an account and a channel that isn’t tied to the Dickfrombrooklyn Omnimedia, Inc. juggernaut :)  (b) replace the low-rent stock video I used as placeholders and (b) improve the titles, intro images etc. and titles that dashed together in < 1 hour. I can handle most of this but could use some help from the Ricochet talent pool. ETA 1 day.
    2. Diversify the co-sponsors: There is a greater chance of getting the candidates to say “yes” if each of them feels that the questions will be fair and that at least one of the sponsoring conservative media outlets looks favorably upon his or her candidacy. On his podcast yesterday Bill Kristol said that he would be open to moderating a debate. His co-host even asked the obvious question – what about online video? Perhaps start with the Weekly Standard. NR is another obvious choice. Mendel made a good suggestion of the WSJ. Perhaps include a social conservative site as well. A big tent is probably key to candidate acceptance and will help build-in a big audience.
    3. Technology to distribute the real debate: The proof of concept we built will work, but it is probably smart to engage with the YouTube marketing and major account service folks. There are features that they can enable for large customers, events and audiences that will make the experience more polished and they can dedicate compute and bandwith resources for large events to ensure that viewers get a great experience. I know a few people there and one alum who was highly placed. If you allow advertising in some portion of the event, they will certainly help out (and the sponsors might even make a few bucks)
    4. Experiment,test and tweak: Use the Ricochetti as guinea pigs. Using the proof of concept, have some pretend to be candidates and record videos, others pretend to be questioners and others pretend to watch as the audience. One or two need to be the “producers” and send out the questions and post the video answers to the correct YouTube channel and playlists. Other variables include – do you ask the candidates to come to a central location so that the production values are better and consistent and to minimize the chance of one candidate having a technical issue? Do you go the other direction and make this a very DIY project for the candidates in which they can just look into their iphone and answer the question. Yes, this approach might be called “the selfie debate” but there might be a happy medium between polished studio production and a shaky handed portrait oriented video selfie in which Rico could send out a simple rig of a iphone tripod, lighting rig and microphone to each participant.

     

23. Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn

    @DickfromBrooklyn

    

    Post author

    9:57 AM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    Concretevol:Who can get these campaign managers and candidates on board? Why would they not jump at the chance to use an alternative to the MSM?

    Concretevol asks the most important question here.

    Assuming we can improve the proof of concept… who can bring it to the candidates?

    Will having a few co-sponsoring new media entities improve the odds of the candidates saying yes?

    Also – what is the critical mass number of candidates needed to make it a success? How many leading candidates? What if only one leading candidate says no?

24. Thatcher
    Concretevol

    @Concretevol

    10:33 AM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    Apparently several campaigns staffers are meeting today in DC to go over debate ideas so they may be more open now to a format like what Dick has come up with.

25. Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn

    @DickfromBrooklyn

    

    Post author

    10:55 AM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    Concretevol:Apparently several campaigns staffers are meeting today in DC to go over debate ideas so they may be more open now to a format like what Dick has come up with.

    Strike now! Iron is red hot!

26. Coolidge
    PJS

    @PJS

    

    2:33 PM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    Dick from Brooklyn:

    Concretevol:Apparently several campaigns staffers are meeting today in DC to go over debate ideas so they may be more open now to a format like what Dick has come up with.

    Strike now! Iron is red hot!

    Who has the connections to strike?!

27. Thatcher
    Concretevol

    @Concretevol

    2:41 PM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    Headlines abound with Carson calling for the debates to be shown on facebook (ugh).  This idea is better but still gets away from the networks!

28. Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn

    @DickfromBrooklyn

    

    Post author

    4:27 PM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    Concretevol: Headlines abound with Carson calling for the debates to be shown on facebook (ugh).  This idea is better but still gets away from the networks!

    That would be better than nothing and would have some built in social virility. I’d rather see right wing new media take the ball and run with it than give it to Facebook. I’ll take what I can get.

29. Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn

    @DickfromBrooklyn

    

    Post author

    4:32 PM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    See below.

    Having multiple conservative new media outlets officiate would give it more legitimacy. One campaign can’t call the shots or organize it.

    Carson’s campaign manager, Barry Bennett, is holding a meeting with GOP campaign representatives on Sunday night to discuss changes to the remaining debates.

    The retired neurosurgeon’s campaign says future debates could be carried on Facebook and YouTube, unnamed sources familiar with the situation told the Journal. They believe doing so will strip television networks of their power to control the formats of the debates.

    The campaign also says the forums should prioritize lengthy statements from candidates rather than frequent moderator intervention.

    “He’s throwing out suggestions,” Watts said of Carson. “I don’t think he’s saying, ‘This is what we want.’ He’s giving some suggestions and some context. He’s saying, ‘This is what we have on our minds.’”

30. Thatcher
    Concretevol

    @Concretevol

    5:07 PM EST ⋅ Nov 1, 2015

    Dick from Brooklyn:See below.

    Having multiple conservative new media outlets officiate would give it more legitimacy. One campaign can’t call the shots or organize it.

    Carson’s campaign manager, Barry Bennett, is holding a meeting with GOP campaign representatives on Sunday night to discuss changes to the remaining debates.

    The retired neurosurgeon’s campaign says future debates could be carried on Facebook and YouTube, unnamed sources familiar with the situation told the Journal. They believe doing so will strip television networks of their power to control the formats of the debates.

    The campaign also says the forums should prioritize lengthy statements from candidates rather than frequent moderator intervention.

    “He’s throwing out suggestions,” Watts said of Carson. “I don’t think he’s saying, ‘This is what we want.’ He’s giving some suggestions and some context. He’s saying, ‘This is what we have on our minds.’”

    Anyone have Barry Bennett’s email?  :)