A big thumbs up to the Voice of San Diego for hosting yet another successful "Politifest" at San Diego's Liberty Station on Saturday. Whether in the online or offline world, our political culture has, in large part, pushed us into "left" and "right" circles where we tend to talk to the people that already agree with us. Rarely do voters and the politically interested ever have the opportunity to talk face-to-face about real issues, in an atmosphere that encourages peaceful discourse. But, from the left, right, down the middle, to the completely unaligned, Politifest did its part to break down traditional barriers to communication; at least for a day.

The main attraction was the all-important Mayoral debate, where long-time Democratic Congressman Bob Filner and Republican City Councilman Carl DeMaio had a more difficult time matching the otherwise cordial non-partisan discussions at the event.  The event also hosted an idea tournament, a debate on San Diego's Proposition Z, live music, and food trucks.

Tweets about "#politifest"

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The San Diego Reader's <a href="<br />

<p>Big Money, both Democratic and Republican, does a lot of talking at San Diego mayoral debate<br />

</p><br />

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Big Money, both Democratic and Republican, does a lot of talking at San Diego mayoral debate

Big Money, both Democratic and Republican, does a lot of talking at San Diego mayoral debate

Big Money, both Democratic and Republican, does a lot of talking at San Diego mayoral debate

http://storify.com/sdmattpotter2/the-great-politifest-debate-does-big-money-control?awesm=sfy.co_l9nE&utm_source=t.co&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_content=storify-pingback">Matt Potter and Sandra Coronilla, an intern with the Voice of San Diego, re-capped the event better than I could from their own Twitter perspective on Storify.

[&amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=" &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Big Money, both Democratic and Republican, does a lot of talking at San Diego mayoral debate &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;

Big Money, both Democratic and Republican, does a lot of talking at San Diego mayoral debate

Big Money, both Democratic and Republican, does a lot of talking at San Diego mayoral debate

Big Money, both Democratic and Republican, does a lot of talking at San Diego mayoral debate

http://storify.com/sdmattpotter2/the-great-politifest-debate-does-big-money-control" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;gt;View the story "The great Politifest debate: Does big money control San Diego Politics?" on Storify&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt;][&amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://storify.com/SandraCoronilla/politifest-2012-the-mayoral-debate" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;gt;View the story "Politifest 2012 - The Mayoral Debate" on Storify&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt;]