Of the thousands of videos uploaded on YouTube for tonight’s GOP debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., a question lasting no more than three seconds may prove to be one of the toughest: “What does the word ‘Republican’ mean to you?”
At 5 p.m. Pacific time today, after months of delay caused at least in part by concerns voiced by Republican candidates about the format, the GOP contenders will face their version of the CNN/YouTube debate. And like the first YouTube debate four months ago, when the Democratic candidates fielded questions from, among others, a talking snowman who asked about global warming, the candidates aren’t entirely sure how to prepare for the event.
“We don’t know what to expect,” said Karen Hanretty, a spokesperson for former Sen. Fred Thompson.
The period for submitting questions ended Monday, and almost 5,000 were offered up as fodder for the debate. The submitted videos are as diverse as the questioners themselves — coming from all ages and backgrounds, Republicans and Democrats alike.
In one, a black woman from Dallas, soon to be out of college and lamenting that she needs to learn Spanish to secure a job, asks how the candidates feel about non-English-speaking immigrants. In another, a disabled middle-aged man from Tucson, Ariz., sitting in his wheelchair, asks about stem cell research. A gay Republican from Atlanta asks: “How can we make the Republican Party a more large, open tent?”
Other questions, many of them pointed and stinging, are directed to specific candidates. A former member of the Church of Latter Day Saints asks former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon, if he agrees with the beliefs of the church that anyone who doesn’t have white skin has been cursed by God for the sins of their forefathers.
There are plenty of offbeat questions. Billiam the Snowman is back, this time joined by the likes of Mr. Potato Head and a hand puppet named Mojo.
But perhaps most striking are offerings from disgruntled Republicans questioning what their party, locked in a fluid and unpredictable primary battle, really stands for.
Said Cynthia Zinn, a 22-year-old mother of two who uploaded a question about abortion: “I’m not entirely sure who to support. Giuliani is pro-choice; I can’t support a Republican who’s pro-choice. Thompson scares me because he doesn’t support a constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage. And Romney. Well, Romney has flip-flopped so much that I don’t know what to believe.”
The debate format remains the same as it did for Democrats in July. CNN’s political team will review the submissions and choose about 40 videos that can be used tonight.
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