( – promoted by odum)
and also the plunge. I invited the four Democratic gubernatorial candidates whom I have seen post on GMD to come on VTblogosphereTV to discuss the internet and the issues. Big thanks to Amy Schollenberger, Racine’s Field Director, for responding the next day with a positive response and a suggested date and time to shoot. Having a Governor who surrounds him or herself with a competent responsive staff could take some getting used to.
A reason I thought candidates may not want to come on such a show is the negative perception that public access tv production values can be quite amateurish. And of course, in fulfillment of my worst possible nightmare, an incomplete version of the program went to air last week while I was on vacation. Apologies to anyone who may have seen it, but it is fixed now and is airing for the next few weeks on access stations throughout the state. Thanks to the Racine campaign for showing the leadership to plunge in first and utilize the community resource that is public access TV. Also, they were extremely gracious and patient as post-production issues were worked out, and I think now we have a decent enough version on air (green screen shadows haunt my dreams), though I do not believe the quality of the production rises to meet the quality of the candidate. But the interview itself went great and was a lot of fun.
And now the pledge: I’d like to see candidates agree that they will not engage in any anonymous internet sketchiness that was so well exemplified by Rich Tarrant’s 2006 Senate bid. If you do not recall that storied campaign and its enactment of “Not the Vermont Way,” you can read David Waldman’s (Kagro X’s) post GOP candidate bankrolls fake blog. That campaign also accused the Sanders campaign of buying the domain name “Tarrantsucks.com” and using it to redirect traffic to “Bernie.org.” No really.
If candidates pledge that neither they nor their staff will engage in anonymous internet tactics, then we will be much better able to trust the election season dialogue that will occur in the blogosphere. Of course candidates can not control all their supporters, but they can certainly control their staff and strategy. And once we head into the general election, with Democratic candidates clearly on the high road, we will be better able to figure out the source if anonymous internet sketchiness rears its head.
Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of the Doug Racine interview