And then we will open up for questions and answers. So, with these few words, im handing over to mr. Von spakovsky as agreed between the panelists that he would start first. The floor is yours. Thank you very much. And welcome to the United States. Were glad to have you here. You got an introduce of me as a lawyer and a write br these topics but i want to you understand also that i come at this from a practical standpoint. Because i actually have been an election administrator down at the local level. I was on a county registration and election board in the state of georgia where we were responsible for Voter Registration and running the polls on election day in the largest county in the state. I recently left another county electoral board in the state of virginia, Fairfax County, where i think many of you may be going to observe tomorrow. And Fairfax County also is the largest county in the state of virginia. So i have a lot of practical experience in what its like to register indivi
Going to vote for. The viewership of the debates is second only to the most widely watched tv program in the u. S. Which is the super bowl. The final of the u. S. Style football championships. To put it into scale, a well watched primary debate in the u. S. Will have 3 Million Viewers. A typical network news program will have 6 million to 7 Million Viewers. A poorly watched president ial debate will have 37 viewers and a well watched debate, 75 Million Viewers in the u. S. And any more overseas. I would like to shift gears at this point and discuss the commissions International Work which is done in partnership with the National Democratic institute. The commission has collectively help groups in more than 35 countries around the world. As you may have seen in your own country or as the slideshow indicates, there is a Global Movement toward making candidate debates part of an election. It is at least 65 country so far and ive suspect the number is higher. Why are more countries organiz
Future of her partys leadership. We have a lot of talented younger members. Its not just, by the way, mrs. Pelosi. I think shes been a great leader. And she is really good at raising money. Thats not one of my fortes. I was never good at that. But they have to start training younger people and bring younger people into the caucus, to become hopefully the future leaders. One of the things that i certainly believe with all my heart and soul, you have to know when to leave. And nancy obviously does not feel that this is the time to leave. Many of us thought that she might stay for, you know, maybe this coming year. Hopefully turn the reins over to somebody else. But when i look around, is anybody really ready to replace her. I mean, its a hard job. I give her a lot of credit for what shes been able to do. But i think its time that the leaders stop looking at whos going to fill my spot. Were all replaceable. There might be some bumps in the road. But i do always believe its time for younge
The world. As you may have seen in your own country, or as the slide show indicates, theres a Global Movement toward candidate debates making candidate debates a part of elections in a diverse range of countries. Its at least 65 countries so far. And i suspect the number is higher. Why are more countries organizing debates . I think there are several reasons. Debates provide a unique opportunity to compare candidates. They are generally the only time in a campaign when voters see and hear directly from the candidates, appearing side by side, in the same forum, at the same time. Debates also increase focus on policies in a campaign. In some countries, candidates traditionally campaign on personal attacks or slogans, personality, religion or ethnic loyalties. In contrast to our debate, forces candidates to have more indepth positions on the issues. For example, in jamaica, polling after a 2011 debate showed that 70 of the public was more informed on candidate policy positions because of
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