*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** -- Forward far and wide --> Starting Sunday afternoon and running through the election, the Web White & Blue 2000 Presidential Rolling Cyber Debate will be available across 17 of the largest Internet sites and directly from: http://www.webwhiteblue.org Help bring the online debate to millions of Internet users by adding the WWB Icon and link <http://links.webwhiteblue.org> to your web site today. Sign-up at: http://www.webwhiteblue.org/participate/ This online event may well be the big election-related Internet advancement in 2000 that illustrates how the Internet can best be used to contribute to democracy. More substance. Less hype. This year the U.S. Presidential race, next year why not your local race for mayor (you can make it happen by organizing online candidate/party debates around the world at all levels)! Steven Clift Democracies Online Newswire Web White & Blue 2000 Outreach Coordinator Web: http://publicus.net E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] FOR RELEASE 12:01 A.M. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2000 First Ever Online Presidential Debate Starts Today, Will Run Daily on Web White & Blue 2000 Network Candidates Gore, Bush Agree To Historic Debate Series, Format Will Include Other Candidates (Washington, DC - October 1, 2000) - The Presidential campaigns of Al Gore and George W. Bush have officially agreed to participate in the first ever online presidential debate to be held on the Web White & Blue 2000 network beginning today and continuing through Election Day. Dubbed the "Rolling Cyber Debate," the daily exchanges will be carried on a network of 17 of the largest Internet traffic centers, representing 85% of the American Internet audience and on www.webwhiteblue.org. Web White and Blue 2000 is a non-partisan, non- profit project of the Markle Foundation. "The Rolling Cyber Debate allows the presidential candidates to reach people across the Internet platform daily, to challenge each other, and to engage in the questions people want to ask them directly. It will provide the candidates unfiltered access to a massive Internet audience in a way never before possible. The result will be a new kind of resource for voters, journalists and for those citizens who usually sit on the sidelines. Web White & Blue 2000 represents the belief--shared by the Markle Foundation and the 17 major sites and portals who have joined together for this project--that emerging information technologies can fundamentally enhance the electoral process," said Zoë Baird, Markle Foundation President. In addition to Gore and Bush, all campaigns on enough state ballots for a mathematical possibility of winning a majority of votes in the Electoral College are expected to participate in the Debate. This includes: Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan, John Hagelin, Harry Browne, and Howard Phillips. All but the Nader campaign have said they will take part, and the Nader campaign (as of 3pm Friday) "was still deciding." The Rolling Cyber Debate will feature each campaign's 'Message of the Day,' and their responses to a 'Question of the Day' asked by any Internet visitor via the network. In addition, each campaign's message and question response may be rebutted by any of the participating campaigns. The answers to the message and question of the day content can consist of any combination of text, video, and audio. "This is the first Presidential election to be affected by the Internet. The Rolling Cyber Debate, taking advantage of all technology can offer, represents a natural evolution of the debate process that began 40 years ago with the Nixon-Kennedy televised debates," said Doug Bailey, Senior Advisor to Web White & Blue 2000. "As a complement to the televised debates, this online debate offers an opportunity to include multiple candidates to present all sides of the issues," said Mike McCurry, Senior Advisor to Web White & Blue 2000. "Television is great at capturing face-to-face, unrehearsed moments, but the Internet gives the electorate the chance to thoughtfully compare and contrast the candidate's answers at their convenience." The 17 sites that will all carry the daily exchange are: ABCNEWS.com, America Online, CNN's allpolitics.com, Excite, FOXNews.com, iVillage.com, Microsoft/MSN, MSNBC.com, MTV.com's Choose or Lose, NetNoir.com, npr.org (National Public Radio Online), NYTimes.com, Oxygen Media, PBS Online, USATODAY.com, washingtonpost.com's OnPolitics, Yahoo!. In addition to these 17 charter sites, thousands of individual Web sites are linking to Web White & Blue 2000 to show support for the use of the Internet to enhance democracy. Hundreds of non-profit organizations, schools, media outlets and individual Web sites are Participating Sites for the launch of the Rolling Cyber Debate and more sites join everyday. "Web White & Blue 2000 is truly creating a grassroots civic movement on the Internet," said Steven Clift, Web White & Blue 2000 Outreach Coordinator. The views expressed during the Rolling Cyber Debate are those of the candidates, and not those of Web White & Blue and the sponsorship of the Rolling Cyber Debate is not intended as an endorsement of any candidate. About Web White & Blue 2000 Web White & Blue 2000 is a non-profit, non-partisan project of the Markle Foundation designed to highlight the potential of the Internet to expand and enhance citizen participation in our nation's democratic process. Web White & Blue 2000 does not endorse or support candidates for public office and does not take positions on partisan or election related issues. Web White & Blue 2000 has created a network comprised of the 17 largest Internet traffic centers which together reach 85% of the American Internet audience. Current Charter Participants include: ABCNEWS.com, America Online, CNN's allpolitics.com, Excite, FOXNews.com, iVillage.com, Microsoft/MSN, MSNBC.com, MTV.com's Choose or Lose, NetNoir.com, npr.org (National Public Radio Online), NYTimes.com, Oxygen Media, PBS Online, USATODAY.com, washingtonpost.com's OnPolitics, Yahoo!. The Web White & Blue 2000 Web site, content syndication system, and debate technology platform have been developed by mindshare Internet Campaigns, LLC. For additional information about Web White & Blue 2000 please visit http://www.webwhiteblue.org. About Markle Foundation The Markle Foundation works to realize the potential of emerging communications media and information technology to improve people's lives and promotes the development of communications industries that address public needs. Markle is the largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to working in the public interest as the information revolution unfolds and recently announced a $100 million commitment to grants, investments and projects. ### ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - W: http://www.publicus.net Minneapolis - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - - - ICQ: 13789183 *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. ***
