NC Primary Watch: How a blog got governor candidates to debate online

BlueNC, a Democrat-supporting blog, is hosting "the first online gubernatorial debate in North Carolina history" tonight, starting at 7:45 pm.

The two leading Democratic candidates, Richard Moore and Bev Perdue, have agreed to participate. Here's more background.

If you're interested in leaving a question for one of the candidates, visit here. They've laid out some guidelines:

Questions should be short. Questions should be challenging. But what makes a question "tough" isn't necessarily the philosophical difficulty of a given issue. In fact, the more complex the question, the easier it is for a politician to dodge it. Sometimes what is interesting and revealing is not a question that necessarily looks "tough" but one that is sufficiently succinct that it is difficult to dodge, and yet provides insight into how the candidate thinks.

Today's Raleigh News & Observer has an interesting piece on BlueNC's rise and their success in influencing the political debate; it's an enlightening read.