Obama/Clinton Debate in Charlotte

[DanRNC]

A debate at this point is anti-climatic as Obama is essentially the Democratic nominee for all intents and purposes. Most of the high ranking Democratic leadership is calling for Clinton to concede as to not carry the smash and bash campaign all the way out to the general election. A debate would only flame this more so don't expect the Democrats to allow this.

[voyager12]

If this comes to pass I am sure Mayor Pat will be award each a key to the city Aside from beneficial publicity for Charlotte I also don't think it will accomplish much. The issues have been clearly defined for both. It would be annoying bickering back and forth to no purpose. And while I am an Obama supporter they are both guilty of it. In the end if Clinton really does push this to the Convention the Superdelegates will decide anyway. I will vote in the primary to show support for Obama. But the remaining primaries are all beauty contests in reality. Neither side will have enough delegates in the end for it to be decided electorally.

[uptownliving]

NBC is reporting that Clinton has accepted the invitation to the debate. No word on if it will be Raleigh or Charlotte.

[monsoon]

Indeed. Actually it's Obama this time who has not yet accepted, but I would expect that he would. Then it's up to the democrats and CBS to decide which city to hold it in. It will be either at N.C. State University in Raleigh or the Blumenthal Center in Charlotte. That decision and how it is arrived at, might actually be more interesting than the actual debate.

[Raintree21]

The debate about the debate is over. The NC DNC has announced that the Obama-Clinton debate will be held at the RBC Center in Raleigh on April 27th. It will be for 90 minutes and will start at 8pm. Chairman Jerry Meek said that both candidates have accepted the invitation.

[HopHead]

The debate about the debate is over. The NC DNC has announced that the Obama-Clinton debate will be held at the RBC Center in Raleigh on April 27th. It will be for 90 minutes and will start at 8pm. Chairman Jerry Meek said that both candidates have accepted the invitation.

[voyager12]

Not surprising to me. It is the state capital after all.

[monsoon]

Yep. It's why I brought up the possibility in the first place. I do wonder how much local politics played into the matter though it doesn't go unnoticed at how much eastern NC likes to stick it to western NC, and especially to Charlotte.

[HopHead]

Yep. It's why I brought up the possibility in the first place. I do wonder how much local politics played into the matter though it doesn't go unnoticed at how much eastern NC likes to stick it to western NC, and especially to Charlotte.

[Charlotte_native]

At the RBC Center? Wow. Big crowd -- pretty cool actually.

[monsoon]

^Yes it is good for the state as, for the first time in a long time, NC will get a say in the primary. I wonder if the reason to have it in Raleigh was due to the much larger venue than Blumenthal?

[tozmervo]

Of course this means that Obama will score big in Pennsylvania and Hillary will drop out before the campaigns come to NC.

[mrh3]

^Yes it is good for the state as, for the first time in a long time, NC will get a say in the primary. I wonder if the reason to have it in Raleigh was due to the much larger venue than Blumenthal?

[uptownliving]

Maybe its because Raleigh is more geographically central to NC than Charlotte. And the RBC Arena is a much larger venue than the Blumenthal. I don't think that Bobcats aka Time Warner Cable Arena was a viable political option since Bob Johnson is an ardent and vocal Hillary supporter.

[ChiefJoJo]

Another factor not to overlook is the Hurricanes found out on Sunday they will not makes the playoffs, so that opens up a huge number of dates on the RBC Center calender. Either way, it's good for NC to have them in the state talking about what's important to voters.

[monsoon]

Maybe its because Raleigh is more geographically central to NC than Charlotte. And the RBC Arena is a much larger venue than the Blumenthal. I don't think that Bobcats aka Time Warner Cable Arena was a viable political option since Bob Johnson is an ardent and vocal Hillary supporter.

[Charlotte_native]

Didn't the taxpayers of Charlotte pay for that arena? Or do they also have to indure the personal whims of Bob Johnson on what events are able to appear there? Oh Yes, I guess they do. That was the bad deal the Pat McCroy cooked up.

In looking at the map, I would think that a debate in Charlotte would be closer to more people than one in Raleigh.

[monsoon]

..... Combine that with Raleigh being the state capital...

[Neo]

The debate about the debate is over. The NC DNC has announced that the Obama-Clinton debate will be held at the RBC Center in Raleigh on April 27th. It will be for 90 minutes and will start at 8pm. Chairman Jerry Meek said that both candidates have accepted the invitation.

Apparently Jerry Meek spoke wrongly on the affirmation of the debate on the 27th. The Observer is reporting that Obama has not yet committed to the debate in NC on the 27th.

[Charlotte_native]

I am not sure that is a justifiable reason. They had a debate in Myrtle Beach. My guess is they put in RDU because the venue there has more seats.

[elvigy]

The debate has been cancelled.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/20...bate-cance.html

IMHO, it's just as well. I thought the last one (ABC) was pathetic. And if people really don't know enough yet to make up their minds, well, they must be living in a cave.

Still, it would have been nice just to get a little national attention for NC, I suppose.

[monsoon]

This is a fairly rare article about Charlotte in regards to the primary election to be held here in two weeks I say it's rare because Charlotte is almost never acknowledged for it's role in elections in this state let alone one that has national ramifications.

It's a good read. I am sure that some of you will disagree, but since it is focused on Charlotte and this is as close as we have to an election topic, I thought it warranted a mention here.

[krazeeboi]

^I should have known that the content would have been questionable when the article made the misstatement early on that "an estimated 2,491,650 Tarheels [live] in the metropolitan area." The CSA consists of 2.27 million persons, and not all of them are Tarheels since the metro area stretches across a portion of SC. And the women that were the subject of this article sound like they're first-time voters or something. John McCain's uninformed ramblings about the state of the economy is just as good as a lie. Their mentality is hardly representative of the "typical" liberal in NC (or anywhere else), I'd say.

[monsoon]

The debate has been cancelled.

[krazeeboi]

If someone doesn't know where the candidates stand by now, then they've been under a rock this whole time. Ain't nobody got time for another circus trying to pass for an informed discussion.