Etan Horowitz

November 28, 2007 Wednesday

Republican candidates face video questioners
Tonight’s presidential debate blends CNN’s familiar focus with the zaniness of YouTube.

Etan Horowitz, Sentinel Staff Writer

A SECTION; FLORIDA; Pg. A1

When eight Republican presidential candidates take the stage in St. Petersburg tonight, they won’t be quizzed by a news anchor with a list of carefully worded questions.

They’ll be confronted by videos of people like Lynn and Patricia Mulder of Auburndale, whose 25-year-old son was killed in March because he was gay. Or Dr. Stephen Blythe of Melbourne, a family physician who is concerned that many of his uninsured patients can’t afford major medical procedures.

They might even hear from a talking picture of the actor Christopher Walken.

These are snippets from some of the questions Floridians have posted on YouTube, the video-sharing Web site, as part of the CNN/YouTube Republican Debate, which combines the issues-oriented focus of the cable news channel with the sometimes goofy and intimate feel of the Internet site.

Nearly 5,000 short video questions have been submitted, and event organizers say that some of the roughly 40 questions that air during the two-hour debate will be from Florida.

“The candidates are a little bit out of their comfort zone,” said David Bohrman, CNN’s Washington bureau chief and senior vice president.

The 8 p.m. debate is the second that CNN and YouTube have put on. The first, which featured the major Democratic candidates, took place in July in Charleston, S.C., and will be remembered because of a talking snowman named Billiam that asked the candidates about global warming.

Video questions submitted by Floridians touch on subjects ranging from the Iraq war to the declining value of American currency.

Even Gov. Charlie Crist submitted a question, though his query about a national catastrophe fund was turned in after the submission deadline.

David Moore, 22, of Windermere is still deciding whom to vote for. A registered Republican who is thinking of becoming an independent, Moore has been making short videos since he was in high school.

“I want you to explain to me why I should vote for another Republican and how you do not compare to the current administration,” Moore says sternly into the camera in a video submission.

Moore also submitted another video that is more in line with the fare found on YouTube — a talking photo of Walken, Moore’s favorite actor, hammers former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for repeatedly bringing up the Sept. 11 terror attacks in his speeches.

But not all the video questions Florida residents submitted come from tech-savvy young people.

The Mulders heard about the CNN/YouTube debate from a friend a few weeks ago. Since the murder of their son Ryan Keith Skipper in March, they’ve become advocates for gay rights.

So with the help of a friend, the Mulders created a 32-second video called “Valued Families.” It doesn’t feature fancy graphics or dramatic music, just two heartbroken parents looking for a candidate who will help prevent the kind of hate crimes that took their son’s life.

“This violence is promoted by a social climate of condemnation and rejection, which is often the result of misguided religious teaching,” Patricia Mulder, 52, says in the video.

The video ends with Lynn Mulder, 49, asking what the candidates would do to “help create a climate of understanding and respect towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Americans.”

Other videos clearly draw on the visual aspect of the medium.

Nicole Bouie, a 28-year-old banker from Tallahassee, was inspired to submit a question after she spent a few months without health insurance. Although Bouie and her husband were able to use a credit card to pay the $400 out-of-pocket costs for her 2-year-old son’s asthma medication, the experience made her think about parents who never have insurance to cover their children’s medications.

In the video, Bouie is standing in front of Lake Ella in Tallahassee holding her son Brandon, who smiles for the camera before squirming out of his mom’s arms.

“It puts a face with what your issue is,” Bouie said. A registered independent, Bouie said the unscripted nature of the debate will help her decide whom to vote for.

“You can tell a lot about a candidate by how long it takes them to answer — if they stumble before they answer, what their facial expressions are, what their body language is,” Bouie said.

CNN’s Bohrman wouldn’t reveal which questions would be aired or whether the snowman would make a return appearance.

“It won’t be disrespectful, and it won’t be unpresidential,” Bohrman said. “I saw George Bush pardon a turkey the other day, so if they win the presidency, they will end up doing things that are a little odd.”

Etan Horowitz can be reached at ehorowitz@orlandosentinel.com