The Indiana Debate Commission, a coalition of groups brought together by ICOG, successfully sponsored three gubernatorial debates in the 2008 general election.

The debates featured Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, Democrat Jill Long Thompson and Libertarian Andy Horning, with one event each in northern, central and southern Indiana.

You can read all about the organization’s phenomenal inaugural year at www.indianadebatecommisison.com, but here are some highlights from an IDC press release:

–The Indiana Public Broadcasting stations contributed a total of $54,425 in in-kind services for the three debates, including production, personnel and equipment costs.

–The selected venues donated services and support accounting worth an estimated $74,480.

–An average of 67 people per venue provided logistical support.

–A total of 2,868 people attended the hour-long debates in person; another 2,826 visited viewed the debates that were posted and archived online. Television viewership ran into the hundreds of thousands. For the Oct. 14 debate in Bloomington, according to Nielsen, central Indiana viewership totaled 144,950 households.

The Indiana Debate Commission is a non-partisan, statewide group of 13 citizen and media organizations dedicated to promoting debates at the state level. Incorporated in the fall of 2007, the IDC will work with candidates, sponsors, venues and citizen groups to promote open, unbiased and transparent debates for Hoosier voters.