News-Record.com

So we asked members of our Reader Advisory Network -- a group of a couple thousand newspaper and online readers -- to e-mail us their thoughts on the debate: who won and why. We needed their names, their political affiliations and, because the debate ran late, we needed them quickly.

We published just about every one that made the deadline. Here's a taste of the feedback I got today:

"I believe again, that the liberal media has presented how they want the readers to be influenced. How many Democrat responses did you publish and how many Republican? And for your information, I am a BLACK Republican. Bush again, talked more about the issues and Kerry was up to his old tricks of trying to slam Bush. I hope he doesn't slam his way into the White House."

"You're too liberal!! You're like CBS and now ABC!"

"I was, once again, hoping for a truly objectional article from the News & Record and, once again, I was disappointed yet not surprised. You usually "stack the deck" on your articles, i.e. agenda, and it's very transparent. I think that is why you are loosing your conservative reader. I read what interests me in about 5 minutes on line. I prefer not to pay for "fishwrap"!!"

(Because I like what I presume is an unintended slip of the typing fingers on "objectional" for "objective," I left this one uncorrected.)

I promise we didn't pick-and-choose based on politics. We picked and chose based on making deadline and including name and political affiliation.

You, too, can become a member of our Reader Advisory Network simply by clicking here. It's easy and we'll publish your thoughts and opinions, too.