Austin Mayoral Debate

AUSTIN - KXAN Austin News is partnering with the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs' Center for Politics and Governance (CPG) and the LBJ School student organization CLASS to provide the only major broadcast, multi-platform Austin Mayoral debate.

This debate will be an opportunity for the people of Austin to have their questions answered directly by the candidates.

The event will be held Wednesday, April 22nd at 6:30pm from the 10th floor of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum and will be simulcast live on KXAN Austin News and KXAN.com.

The KXAN Austin News web team will be accepting viewer questions before the debate. If you have a question, you are encouraged to submit it by going to KXAN.com, or to send it via email (debate@kxan.com) and through TWITTER.

Several of these questions will be answered live by the candidates during the simulcast.

Members of the debate audience will also be able to submit questions on the evening of the debate.

The debate will be moderated by KXAN Austin News anchor, Robert Hadlock. Panelists include the Director of the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Veronica Vargas Stidvent. Panelists also include Bruce Hight from the Austin American Statesman and Cathy Kincaid, Executive Editor of the Community Impact Newspaper.

The TV/Internet simulcast will focus on the 3 major candidates vying for Austin Mayor.

In the spirit of cooperation, KXAN invites all Austin media to cover the debate. Clean feeds of the debate will be provided to credentialed media. Bloggers will also be invited to watch the debate live from a situation room inside the LBJ Library. Credential requests should be sent electronically to Shane.Allen@kxan.com no later than 5pm on Monday April 20, 2009.

Seating at the debate is limited. Seats will be available to the public on a first-come first served basis on the CPG website .

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T he Center for Politics and Governance is the nexus of the theoretical and practical in the teaching of politics and political leadership. We teach not simply how to master the existing system, but how to make it function more effectively to achieve better results.

Citizens for Local and State Service (CLASS) is an LBJ School student organization dedicated to bringing more attention to involvement in local communities. Students from CLASS have provided research and logistics help for the debate.

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