The Charlotte Observer has posted notice of the first scheduled debate between the primary candidates for the Republican nomination, all of whom hope to be the Republican challenger this fall to NC Senator Kay Hagan.  The debate, which is also co-sponsored by the Raleigh News-&-Observer and Time-Warner Cable News, is to be held April 23nd on the campus of Davidson College in Davidson, NC, about 20 miles north of Charlotte.  The line-up of debaters is to include Greg Brannon, Mark Harris, Heather Grant, and in the cow’s tail position, Thom Tillis.

The online notice, HERE, includes additional information to include the time and specific location for the debate, parking information, an online registration form, and a space for those who might wish to pose a question to one or more of the debaters.  Note that attendance is free, but attendees MUST PRE-REGISTER.

UPDATE

As you may have heard, one of the three sponsors for the debate, WRAL, has dismayed many conservatives by shutting candidate Mark Harris out of the debates on the grounds that, according to one of their polls, he had less than the requisite 7% share.  The Harris campaign is determined to get WRAL to reconsider, however, in light of the following:

1)  Candidate Harris has exceeded WRAL’s polling threshold three times since November 2013, most recently in March immediately following WRAL’s anchor poll.   
 
2)  Real Clear Politics averages every poll conducted for the race, and Harris finishes a close third in that average by just 2.7%.  And this is before any of Harris’ planned political advertising hits the media!
 
3)  Two polls since WRAL’s anchor poll show that Harris is the only candidate on the rise, while others are sitting stagnant or slipping.  In fact, the most recent polling shows Harris above WRAL’s threshold, and it was even conducted by the same polling firm, Survey USA.

I think it is likely that WRAL is excluding Mark Harris in order to help Thom Tillis get the requisite 40% share of the primary vote.  If you want to help persuade WRAL to reconsider their exclusion of Harris, here is the contact information:

Telephone the WRAL Assignment Desk:  919/ 821-8600
E-Mail them at AssignmentDesk@WRAL.com
Berate them on their Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/wraltv
And if you are a twit, tweet them at:  www.twitter.com/WRAL

Arise, tea partiers, and loudly voice your outrage at this transparent liberal attempt to sway the upcoming Republican primary election!  Also, pre-register for the debate if you think you would want to attend in the event that Mark Harris is one of the debaters.

FURTHER INFORMATION

I am not a twit, but I contacted WRAL by all the other three methods.  Below is the text of my e-mail message, Facebook post, and my telephone rant.  Feel free.

Dear WRAL Management:

You people should be ashamed of yourselves for so blatantly displaying your favoritism toward Thom Tillis by excluding Mark Harris from the April 22nd Senate primary debate.  Harris is a viable contender and  among the frontrunners, so you are excluding him in order to help Tillis reach the magic 40% vote total.  Your actions indicate a disgraceful bias, and you ought to reverse this decision.

If you telephone, state the subject matter (Exclusion of Candidate Mark Harris from the Senate Primary Debate) when the operator first answers.  She will immediately connect you to a recording.  After the recorded message is done, wait for the beep, then speak your piece.