Rush Holt's 'Geek Out' Brings Scientists To Talk Social Policy

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12) attempted something no candidate in the race for New Jersey’s open U.S. Senate has tried: an in-person and internet simulcast town hall featuring high-minded folks chiming in through videoconference from far-flung places to talk about immigration, climate change and a host of other concerns.

Some of it even worked.

The "Geek Out Live With Rush" event held Tuesday night was billed as a means to connect voters with scientists and thought leaders about major issues facing the country.

The slate of panelists included Glenn Greenwald, journalist for The Guardian newspaper who broke the NSA spying story; Steven Chu, former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel laureate in physics and four academics from Princeton, Columbia and UCLA.

Three scientists joined Holt at Mercer Community College, where the U.S. Senate hopeful fielded most of the questions coming mainly from the studio audience or were sent in by the nearly 400 people viewing the event on YouTube.

But "Geek Out" was plagued with technical glitches throughout the two-hour event, nixing the appearance of some guests and clipping the participation of others.

"This was all tested," Holt said at one point when a guest’s audio went silent.

But despite technical problems, the 14-year Congressman was able to field a host of questions and spur discussion on climate change and immigration. Holt, a physicist and teacher, repeatedly said that he approached social problems as a scientist, using evidence as his guide. Legislation, he said, should be crafted on that basis, not on ideology or personality.

"Evidence matters," Holt said.

Holt is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for the Senate seat of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg. He’s competing against Newark Mayor Cory Booker, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-34). The special primary election is set for Aug. 13.

Holt solidified his credentials as the race’s progressive candidate, reiterating his publicized positions on the in favor of a single-payer health care system, a tax on stock trades and climate change. He also said he was in favor of publicly funded campaigns to rid the current system of the “corrupting influence” that money has on running for office.

Holt, who recently introduced legislation to repeal the Patriot Act, also spoke out about the National Security Agency’s civilian surveillance program, saying that to gird against its fear of terrorism “this country has done some unwise things.’’

Former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who joined the event by video feed from California, said the backlash against climate change science was akin to obfuscation efforts in the 1960s and 1970s on the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.

"If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, a doctor will never tell you that you’re going to get lung cancer," Chu said. "But your odds will be 85 percent higher."