I am thrilled to announce that on Friday, August 14, Sen. Arlen Specter and Rep. Joseph Sestak will be joining us at Netroots Nation 2009 for a Pennsylvania Leadership Forum.
The session will be moderated by veteran Pennsylvania blogger/journalist Susie Madrak (Crooks and Liars, Suburban Guerrilla) and Ari Melber of The Nation and other publications, and per our invitation the format will be as follows:
Each participant will be featured on stage separately and sit with the moderators for a question and answer session. The participants will be offered an opportunity to make brief opening remarks after which the moderators will engage them in questions of their sole choosing. The forum will solicit questions online in advance, from Pennsylvania voters and other interested citizens, and the moderators will exercise editorial judgment and discretion in selecting official topics and questions for the event. In addition, there may be some questions will be taken live from the audience at the forum, time permitting. Participants will then be given the opportunity to make closing remarks.
Two in-depth interviews with the men who want to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate in 2011 and beyond, the first such event they'll be having before the 2010 Democratic primary. No lengthy speeches -- it's about your questions and their answers, and the kind of unique event that only takes place at Netroots Nation.
Raven and I had the opportunity to speak with both Senator Specter and Congressman Sestak at the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee meeting in June (we scheduled our site visit to coincide with the conference), and both of them expressed strong interest in joining us for Netroots Nation, meeting all of you and making their case. They know how important the netroots are, and I know how eager you are to hear what they have to say.
So register now to join us in Pittsburgh. (Sssh! The prices will be going up soon.)