All USA

ABOUT Our Nationwide Debates:

TGIF's All-USA debates will be aired live on Saturdays. The audience will be surveyed following each debate and the results will be publicized each Monday morning.

The debates follow "TGIF" format, meaning candidates are free to say as little or as much as they wish, subject only to a cumulative timer that counts down. Candidates are free to respond by saying NOTHING, and instead hold up a Green or Red or Yellow card, signaling agreement, disagreement, or ambivalence. That card may be held following the question and during the time another candidate is speaking.

Once a candidate's time has expired, the candidate may still hold aloft the Green, Red, and Yellow cards for the remainder of the debate. There are no closing statements.

TGIF All-USA Features four to eight candidates per event. The questions are directed to ALL. None is directed to a fellow candidate's past statement or past action. The questions will be culled, in about equal proportion, from voters who identify as Democrats, Independents, and Republicans.

Democrats, Independents, and Republicans are the invited audience. Candidates are here to show their "pull" with members OUTSIDE their party.

The May Debates are exclusively for Libertarian candidates. Starting June 6 these Saturday debates will be open to up to Democrat, Republican, and Other Parties who have achieved ballot access in states whose electors comprise 200 of the 538 electors. VP candidates are welcome, and surrogates for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence are welcome if official duties keep them from the debate.

Starting June 6, for the candidates who have taken part in May, the allotted time will grow by 10% for the May "winner" according to the surveys, and by 5% for the Second Place finisher from the May surveys. Another 10% and 5% are added to the time of a past winner and runner up following each June debate, to a maximum of +30%. Reciprocally, 10% and 5% time reductions will be made to the worst-rated and second worst-rated participants. This is capped at -20%. A candidate losing again after a -15 or -20 status will not be invited to subsequent debates on the theory that his lack of appeal tarnishes the whole endeavor.

Thus, a highly appealing candidate over time could be awarded up to 130% of the standard time while a lowly-regarded candidate could be at 80% of the standard time.

Countdown clocks are put on each candidate, each operated by a human timer, An "uber" timer supervises. In case candidates are talking over one another BOTH clocks will be running down.

Debates are tentatively scheduled for 10 - 11:45pm Easter each Saturday through October 31.

All Debates will be available for rebroadcast throughout 2020.