“Putting citizens at the center of the 2008 election.”

Its named after the day after election day, and its something we all (especially those up us who pimp one particular candidate) should take a long, close look at. The November Fifth Coalition is a growing group of civic organizations that are trying to change the debate leading up to the 2008 election. And, not change the debate in “lets talk about this particular issue that I found really interesting,” but actually changing how we debate.

Last night we watched “Man of the Year,” which wasn’t the movie I assumed it would be. I should have watched the extra features, because all of the trailers that I saw were pretty horrible at portraying the actual plot arch of the movie. Anyway, there was a point in the movie when the Robin William’s character was ranting during a Presidential debate, seemingly trying to point out that what the debate was trying to portray had no relevance to who the election was for, the voters.

One of the more salient points the November 5 Coalition is making is for candidates and campaigns to open up the debate. More actual talk, fewer fake town halls, for example.

So far, they have a manifesto up, but they’re going to start posting white papers on actual positions. Especially exciting for me is that the guy I’m for (see right), Bill Richardson, is on the board of one of the coalition members.