Watch on Youtube

McCain has agreed to attend the debate tonight.

We’re glad to hear of the decision, and look forward to seeing the two candidates on stage together tonight.

And we delivered your signatures to the Commission on Presidential Debates this afternoon — accompanied by members of CREDO Mobile, People for the American Way, Campaign for America’s Future, and MoveOn.  In sum, we delivered about 178,000 signatures to the Commission…demanding that the candidates debate each other on a public stage.

We’re thrilled with the success of this campaign, and will continue to pressure the Commission and both of the campaigns to move forward as planned with the remaining debates.  We’ll have video footage up soon of this afternoon’s delivery, and stay tuned as more news arises…

We’re about to head over to the Commission on Presidential Debates to deliver the signatures from this petition.  Even more exciting, we have other groups (CREDO Mobile, People for the American Way, and MoveOn) who are also contributing their signatures.  That makes a grand total of over 170,000 signatures!

We will continue to pressure the CPD to not only hold Friday’s debate (which *looks* as though it is moving forward), but to also hold the other two presidential and the one vice presidential debate as scheduled.  We deserve no less.

Video will be up shortly after the delivery!

If you’re in Washington, DC tomorrow, join us in front of the Commission on Presidential Debates to deliver our petition signatures.  (We’re sending the petition to the Obama and McCain campaigns electronically.)

Here’s all the info for tomorrow:

Friday, September 26, 2008
12:30pm EST

Commission on Presidential Debates
1200 New Hampshire Avenue
Washington, DC 20036

We just sent this email to our supporters.

Dear Friend:

In the last 24 hours, more than 6,500 people have signed “Demand the Debate,” asking the Commission on Presidential Debates and both Senators Obama and McCain to commence with Friday’s scheduled debate. Can you tell everyone you know to join you and sign this petition?

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5583/t/3369/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=241

Tomorrow we’re going to deliver your petition to the Commission on Presidential Debates in person (and to the Obama and McCain campaigns electronically), but we need to get as many signatures as we can.

Please ask your friends, family, and neighbors and co-workers to sign our petition by 11am on Friday. Click here to use our tell-a-friend tool to send our petition to people you know:

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5583/t/3369/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=241

With your help, we hope to continue a proud American tradition of public debates!

Thank you,

Allyson, Heather, Jason, Lola, Michael, and Tanya
http://DemandTheDebate2008.com

Want to do more than just sign the petition?  Why don’t you video your thoughts?  Create a video of yourself, explaining why you want the debates to take place as scheduled.  Upload your video to YouTube, then tag your video with this special tag: demandthedebate.  We’ll pull video footage onto the site as it comes in, and will share your videos with other signers.  It’s called vlogging (video blogging) and it’s super-easy!

There are other folks besides us working on petitioning the campaigns and the Commission on Presidential Debates to hold the debates as scheduled — which makes us very happy. For other efforts, check out:

CREDO Mobile

Campaign for America’s Future

People For the American Way

And for some great reading on why debates are important, check out:

Media Matters report and petition

VetVoice

People are talking about us!

Read the rest of this entry »

Americans are facing tough choices - how to pay bills, how to deal with mortgages, how to afford a tank of gas, and who to vote for on November 4th.

While about many of us are clear who we will vote for, anothers will base their decisions on what they hear from the candidates. We have a long tradition of hearing those who are asking for our vote offer up their ideas and plans on a public stage. It’s critical to hear the candidates debate one another on the pressing and real issues facing families across America.  That’s what democracy is all about.

Join us in sending a message to the people who will be making important decisions about the upcoming debates — the Commission on Presidential Debates, the Obama campaign, and the McCain campaign.

Demand the debate!