Meg Whitman Declines Twitter Debate at Brandman University in Irvine

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009, 270 business and community leaders, Brandman and Chapman University professors and staff, political bloggers and members of the media attended a California gubernatorial debate between Republicans Tom Campbell and Steve Poizner at Brandman University in Irvine based in Orange County. Brandman University issued the debate invitation to Republican candidates via Twitter with Campbell and Poizner tweeting their acceptance (Meg Whitman declined).

Candidates responded to four Twitter questions at the Brandman debate with more than 90 questions posed to the candidates via Twitter. All questions for candidates were to be submitted via Twitter using the hashtag #cadebate. See all Twitter submitted questions.

The tweeted questions candidates responded to included:

• What do you see as the biggest challenges in our state's tax system and what changes do you propose to overcome them?
• Should marijuana be legalized and taxed, thus generating billions of dollars in tax revenue?
• As governor, what do you propose to do to halt illegal migration from other countries into California and secure our state?
• The California infrastructure is in shambles. What types of public works projects, if any, would be your top priorities?

The Brandman University debate was believed to be the first political debate between California's gubernatorial candidates organized via Twitter.

”By making innovative use of social media platforms like Twitter, we are able to engage more people in the issues and provide accessibility to candidates from anywhere at anytime,” said Dr. Fred Smoller, Director of the Masters in Public Administration program at Brandman University.

While candidates responded to Twitter questions and questions posed by panelists Dr. Michael Moodian, Assistant Professor of Social Science at Brandman University, and Dan Walters of The Sacramento Bee, audience members tweeted their reactions to candidates' statements while bloggers spread their opinions in real-time.

Poizner commented that it was his daughter's 18th birthday that same night and publicly thanked her for teaching him how to tweet. ”There is no doubt that we need to grow the Republican party and by engaging new and young voters through social media outlets like Twitter is an excellent start,” added Poizner.

Campbell applauded Brandman University for execution of a well-structured and innovative debate. ”Brandman has really raised the bar for other educational institutions. Their forward-thinking and media savvy have helped spread a high-quality discussion of the issues to a great number of Californians,” said Campbell.

Ed Arnold, co-host of KOCE's ”Real Orange” moderated the debate while KOCE-TV broadcast the debate live. Watch the debate in its entirety. View a video put together by Steve Poizner's team on how Twitter is changing political campaigns.

Brandman University

Brandman University, which is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, focuses on meeting the unique needs of the more than 10,000 working students it serves both online and through 25 campuses in California and Washington. Brandman University is part of the Chapman University system and is known for providing students with in-demand degree and certificate programs. www.brandman.edu

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6091279&lang=en

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