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Dear Senator Obama:

You have received letters from Mike Easley, our state’s governor, and from Marc Basnight and Joe Hackney, our state’s legislative leaders, urging you to debate Hillary Clinton in North Carolina on April 27. We’re also writing to encourage you to debate here.

It’s likely that you think there have been enough such events. After all, Democratic presidential candidate debates have been taking place for a year. Or perhaps you think that there’s no need for a face-off so soon after last night’s showdown in Philadelphia.

But that’s not how we North Carolinians see things.

For the first time in decades, we find ourselves pivotal in a presidential primary. That has caused voter registration to surge: Almost 110,000 Democrats and 69,000 unaffiliated voters (who can choose to vote in the Democratic primary) have been added to the rolls this year.

The N.C. Democratic Party has been swamped with requests for tickets to the proposed April 27 debate at the RBC Center in Raleigh. It has received requests from about 20,000 and will hold a drawing to see who gets tickets.

We’re excited. Finally, our votes matter! But do we matter to you?

We appreciate the town hall meeting you’ll have today in Raleigh and the event in Greenville. Still, we would like a forum where we can be there while you and Senator Clinton exchange ideas.

Every day that passes shows a national economy increasingly in peril. We’re experiencing job losses, foreclosures, rising food and energy prices.

Debate it. Tell us what you would do.

North Carolina has bled manufacturing jobs and tries to prepare its children for a new economy, yet No Child Left Behind still leaves many behind at school.

Debate it. Tell us what you would do.

Health care costs are skyrocketing, burdening businesses and bankrupting families. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says the Clinton health plan is more cost-effective and would cover more people than your proposal.

Is that true?

Many North Carolinians have served — and served again — in Iraq. Yet too often, veterans get the runaround when signing up for benefits.

What can you do?

We’re concerned about national security, of being vulnerable because of a dependence on others’ rapidly depleting oil. Do you have a Marshall Plan for energy? (And does it go beyond a vacuous, vacation-from-federal-gas-tax idea?)

Share it with us here.

We’re eager to hear you and Senator Clinton debate these issues in North Carolina, before the May 6 primary. Senator Clinton has agreed to an April 27 debate that CBS will televise. Please say you will, too.

Sincerely,

The News & Record Editorial Board

To comment on this editorial, visit the blog Your Voice at the Table.