Alaska's Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich tapped a variety of social media Tuesday night to clarify his position on the federal government's flirtation with again raising the debt ceiling versus allowing the federal government to default. Begich and staff solicited questions from Twitter, Facebook and his official Senate website and email account, and then Begich turned to the web broadcasting service Ustream for nearly an hour, as a way for the senator to interact with constituents.
Many of the questions raised in the town hall mirrored those from the national debate.
A recurring conern, which Begich responded to directly, was mentioned in a Tweet by Jonathan Teeters of Anchorage: "After pol. gamesmanship & grandstanding - how will you use your leadership to bring others 2 table?"
Begich responded to Tweeters by decrying "political grandstanding" and mentioning the "posturing for 2012 that has taken place on both sides of the table" during the debt ceiling debate. He then reverted to many of the same talking points he used during his testimony on the Senate floor last week.
"(Grandstanding is) not what America needs right now," said Begich. "There are a lot of congressmen who have said under no circumstances (will they) raise the debt limit. There are social security checks that won't be mailed. I don't think they realize the weight of this debate."
One common talking point that Begich tried to dispel is the belief that Democrats have presented no alternative to the plans presented by the Budget Committee chairman of the U.S. House, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and other members of the GOP.
"We have presented bipartisan legislation, and it removes a huge amount of our debt," said Begich. "And we did that without cutting into Social Security or Medicare." He went on to mention that the bill is before Congress and that his website has a worksheet that outlines the bill and other information about the national deficit.
Begich moved away from talk of the debt ceiling to mention the other big Alaska news of the day: the executive order issued by President Barack Obama that creates a task force for federal agencies to coordinate their regulation of oil and gas drilling in Alaska.
"This is something that I've advocated for since the day I got here," Begich said. "There's just a lack of coordination between the agencies. It seemed every time one agency would resolve an issue, another would step in and create the same problems. Now that shouldn't be the issue it was before."
In all, Begich's first attempt at an online town hall drew more than 80 people to watch the senator's responses to his choice of the 30-something questions that were submitted -- and it looks like there will be more of the Q&A sessions. Said Begich in a Tweet and Facebook post: "I hope you'll join me for more discussions in the future."
The concept of an online town hall meeting is relatively new to Alaskans, but the practice has become common practice nationwide.
What makes an online town hall meeting effective, if you consider a study by the Congressional Management Foundation, a D.C.-based nonprofit that aims to help Congress meet the evolving expectations of its constituents, is the interactivity and direct accessibility the format provides.
"Online sessions...offer a powerful tool for strengthening the relationship between [members of Congress] and their constituents," the report said.
Contact Austin Baird at austin(at)alaskadispatch.com