Group Seeks Debate Questions, Room

From today's SN-L --- it was in the print edition but you really have to look for it in the online edition. (Hint, it's under opinions, blogs, very hard to find)

Group Seeks Debate Questions, Room

Y.O.U.N.G. Conservatives of America in Springfield are asking members of the public to submit questions that might be used in the proposed Oct. 19th debate between candidates running for Congress in the 7th District.

To submit a question go to their Web site.

President John Lilly said his group is still working out the details of how the debate will work, including looking for a larger room than the one where the group normally holds its regular meetings, which is at the Cox North Fountain Plaza room. He envisions allowing the public to attend, as well as members of the group
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“I have started calling around, it’s tough finding another room. We get that Plaza room for free. It’s tough finding another room bigger you can get for free. If we can get a bigger room, that would be great.”

Lilly, a physician, said he is hoping to get the board of the Y.O.U.N.G. Conservatives together either this weekend or Monday to start making decisions. After they get details worked out, they’ll present them to the candidates–Democrat Scott Eckersley, Republican Billy Long, and Libertarian Kevin Craig–for approval.

In June the group held a debate for Republican candidates in the primary and was able to make it through about 12 questions in two hours, plus time for opening and closing statements from six participating candidates, Lilly said.
The group is considering Web casting the event on its own Web site, but is still making sure it has the technical capabilities to do that.

Lilly said his group was started about three years ago by radio personality Vincent David Jericho, though Jericho is no longer involved. The group has between 200 and 300 people on its email list. The group does not endorse candidates, and is not affiliated with a national group. Y.O.U.N.G. stands for “Yesterday’s Oath Under Noble Guardians,” and membership is not restricted by age.

Does anyone else remember this statement Billy Long campaign? I do. August 25, 2010. "Meeting at noon at the courthouse steps really doesn't work for many voters here in Southwest Missouri," says Harris. "People are working, taking care of their families, in school."

Appears to me that the Y.O.U.N.G. group has the same problem -- the Cox Fountain Room just doesn't work work for many voters here in Southwest Missouri. (I know they are searching for a larger room. And questions.) Ah, the devil is in the .details.

The auctioneer/candidate told me last week, during the kick-off event on his business tour (which three people attended), that "Whatever I do won’t satisfy you because if I do one you’ll say that wasn’t really a debate, so…"

It's not the debates that doesn't satisfy me, it is the lack of substantative thinking and actions from your campaign. It seems to me that it doesn't go much beyond soundbites, twittering and folksy stories. There's no substance in there anywhere.

Anyone else remember the 7 p's, PPPPPPP? Here's a Facebook page devoted to it.

Here's the crux of the matter: Looking at the way Long and his handlers have handled this debate question ( and from the git-go has been a disaster) it leads one to think, "doesn't anybody in his campaign think further down the road than their nose?"

Remember when Billy told me that he didn't know the business tour schedule was printed in the paper and was open to the public? I do. "I didn't know it was in the paper either." They didn't know it was going to be in the paper. "Well, thank you, I didn’t know this would be a public deal, we, we’re just touring and visiting with small business guy." No really, he said he didn't know this would be a public deal. This debate thing with the Young Conservatives, it's deja vu all over again.

I just can't shake the sense that too often in this campaign the salesman in Long keeps popping up, in spite of his handlers. Long wants to close the sale so bad and he seems willing do anything and everything to achieve that end-- I suspect it's the auctioneer in him.

It's not the sale so much that worries me, it's the service after the sale.