Our View: The Daily is calling on Joe Dorman and Governor Mary Fallin to participate in a second gubernatorial debate at OU’s campus.
We believe Oklahomans deserve more than one public debate between the candidates for governor, and we feel the best place for a second debate would be right here at OU. On behalf of The Oklahoma Daily we call on Governor Mary Fallin and Democratic challenger Joe Dorman to participate in a second public gubernatorial debate on OU’s campus. The Daily — as a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization — is willing to sponsor a second debate and would be happy to partner with other nonpartisan organizations to sponsor an on-campus debate.
We feel a debate at OU would give Oklahoma voters, and young voters in particular, a chance to learn more about the potential leaders of this state. The candidates for Oklahoma governorship should publicly debate their plans for bettering the state more than once, and what better place to do so than at OU, Oklahoma’s flagship university. Even better, we already have a moderator — OU’s political science department Chairman Keith Gaddie.
We asked OU President David Boren to participate in the cause, and he said OU will sponsor the debate and provide a venue if it’s hosted by a nonpartisan group and requested by the two candidates.
Rather than wait for Dorman and Fallin to request a debate at OU, we are proposing a second debate and asking the candidates to respond to The Daily’s call.
We believe public debates are essential for a fully functioning democracy and are a critical way for political candidates to share their goals and beliefs with their constituents. Debates can make or break a political candidate, and they serve to prove competence and confidence to potential voters.
Debates are also critical for the opposing candidate and incumbent to explain why or how their political viewpoints differ. For all of these reasons and more, we believe it is essential to provide more than one opportunity for Oklahoma voters to hear from their gubernatorial candidates.
Fallin and Dorman participated in one public debate on Oct. 2, which was hosted at Oklahoma State University and both candidates are OSU graduates. The gubernatorial candidates clearly favor university settings for public debate, so why not hold a second debate at OU? After all, Oklahoma is the Sooner state.
We also feel it’s critical for the candidates to hold more public debates in an effort to increase voter turnout in Oklahoma. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, only 27 percent of eligible Oklahomans registered to vote and actually cast a ballot, according to a study by the Pew research foundation.
Opportunities for engagement with political candidates encourage voter participation, and it’s going to take more than one public debate to encourage Oklahoma voter turnout. Let’s push Oklahoma to increase its political participation and hold a second gubernatorial debate at OU.
