Community Counts

Barack sent me another email this week. He wants me to have dinner with him. Lunch, maybe, but dinner I'm not sure I'm that serious about him yet. Hillary is still writing to me and I still haven't told her I'm upset about that whole Michael Moore/Sicko thing. I just wish they would both give me a little time to sort though all this. It's just too much, too fast.

Rudy is avoiding me. He set his MySpace profile to private and he still hasn't accepted me as a friend and I know he got my request because last time I logged in it showed him online now. Even if I do get an add, I seriously doubt he will ever make it into my Top Friends.

The Internet has revolutionized the way candidates communicate with voters. They fundraise online, create virtual communities, join social networking sites, create viral videos, and respond to YouTube video questions sent in by voters. Not since the Nixon/Kennedy debate aired have we witnessed such a dramatic shift in the role of technology in political theater.

I was really impressed with the format of the CNN/YouTube debate, but for this to been a truly democratic exercise, the people should have been able to choose which questions the candidates answered.

CommunityCounts.us allows voters do just that. CommunityCounts.us is a netroots effort that lets users vote for their favorite YouTube presidential debate question. Their goal is to leverage technology for the benefit of democracy by having the presidential candidates answer the questions people want answered not just the ones CNN deems acceptable.

At CommunityCounts.us you can see questions and answers from the debate along with direct candidate replies to questions not asked by CNN. While there, you can vote on your favorite question for the upcoming Republican debate.

CommunityCounts has revolutionized the way voters communicate with the candidates. It enhances the democratic process by using technology to support citizen participation in the debates. In my opinion, this is a step in the right direction. I'd like to know what you think about it. And just to show you how easy that is...cast your vote here!

Were the democratic debates democratic enough?