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YouTube debate changes the rules Yes, this is still
the YouTube you know and love: The guys from redstateupdate.com want
the male Democratic candidates to take off their shirts for an abs
contest.
The odds are CNN will not choose that video to air at tonight's
first-of-its-kind U.S. presidential debate in which candidates will
answer questions submitted by YouTube users on video. But along with
the wackiness, YouTube users are showing their serious side for a
chance to have a voice in the presidential race. The GOP candidates
will get their turn in September.
The CNN-YouTube debate is being heralded for turning a new page in
presidential politics, beginning to transform staid debates into an
endeavor taken in the spirit of YouTube: technology-driven, a little
offbeat and with voters at the controls.
More than 2,000 video questions have been submitted, representing a
cross-section of issues and coming from as far away as Spain, Panama
and Chad.
CNN editors, including tonight's debate moderator, CNN host Anderson
Cooper, will select as many as four dozen to air in the two-hour
broadcast from Charleston, S.C. But the submissions, which must be
30 seconds or less, can be viewed at Youtube.com.
Some are wacky, some are rants, but most are from people asking
real-life questions. Among them: a question on the crisis in Darfur,
filmed from inside refugee camps, and one about health insurance,
delivered by a woman with breast cancer.
Then there is the seven-second snippet of a black cat with a caption
asking: "How can you protect my food in the future?"
Monday will deliver a milestone in presidential campaign history,
as user-generated video drives a debate.At 7 p.m. ET Monday, the
Democratic candidates for president will face questions sent in via
YouTube. Then, on September 17, the Republican candidates will
participate in the second CNN-YouTube debate.
At CNN, a small group led by Senior Vice President David Bohrman and
CNN Political Director Sam Feist is looking over the questions.
Bohrman and Feist say they are pleased with the quantity -- and the
quality -- of the questions coming in. "It tells you that people
want to connect with the candidates and they want to personalize
them," Feist said, "and I think that's what this debate does,
personalizes the questions, and it personalizes the answers in a way
that journalists don't."
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