from us and overall we globally improve democracy. at this debate, the commission is hosting over 50 representatives from 24 countries in the debates international network and they ve received a first hand look of what goes on behind the scenes of one of these debates. they are here and i would like to ask our friends from the debates international to please stand up and let s give them a round of applause. [ applause ] finally, there are millions watching and there s one who deserves a special note of thanks. 85-year-old holocaust survivor fred kahn who is out there in tv land. he is the one who originally came up with televised debates fred, look what you ve done.