Hello April,

This was a very well written and interesting blog. The thing I like about the format of the Youtube debates is that the people get to ask the questions. The problem of course is the establishment gets to pick and choose which questions get asked. Like it or not Youtube and the Internet are only going to become increasingly more important in American Politics. I for one think this is good for the first Amendment and politics.

For the longest time the ONLY way a Politician could reach Millions of people with his/her message was to spend Millions of Dollars on advertising. The sad part about that was the only way they could raise that much money was to be independently wealthy, or climb in bed with every special interest group that would have them. Now with the Net and Youtube they can do the same thing for virtually nothing. Trust me it is NOT a coincidence that the powers that be are fighting Net Neutrality tooth and nail.

Long live the Republic,
Tex

Oh don't get me wrong, I wonder through youtube for a laugh at certain things, videos, watch some people get caught saying things they said they didn't say, etc.. But there is so much just plain junk on it. 
   I don't see anything wrong with a candidate being on SNL saying "Live from New York it's Saturday Night". This from an "old" original SNL, SCTV Canada watcher, non liker of Beavis and Butthead. But with the youtube CNN setup the way they did it, that stupid song, etc. If it was questions presented with some formal thing to it without those planted questions but with regular (not planted ops by either side) citizens honestly asking questions. And allot of the same questions need to be asked not just to a Dem or Rep, but those same questions asked to both, both sides need to answer the same question personally.
Maybe another MTV channel thing would have worked better, those that wanted to show up.
You tell me you are having a debate I want to see a debate on the real things, and I want to hear real answers from some candidates with some guts to answer questions from the honest gut and not putting up with the PC stuff.  Left or right, Dem or Rep, let's hear it. There are allot of waffles being made on both sides though.

I think every citizen of age should vote,...intelligently. What is the REAL outcome of my vote, ie taxes, regulations, freedoms, responsiblilty, is it right or wrong, THE CONSTITUTION. The young people I work with that say they aren't going to vote, I tell them you need to. It is your country, but study the truth of both sides of things that concern you. I saw so many of my age group bravely go off and get injured or die, weekly body count,...and they couldn't vote because the government said they were too young, but not too young to die in that "police action".

My rant.

I like the YouTube debates because they expose the lunacy of the present state of televised political debate.  The 2004 primary and presidential debates were horrible because no one answered any questions. The first question never gets answered because the stuffed suits spend the alloted time thanking the hosts and moderators of the debate. Why not get that out of the way before the questions? After that, you might get an answer to one question, but the entire rest of the debate is spent arguing that one point regardless of any questions asked after that.
I haven't had the stomach to watch any democratic debates, but the republican ones were enough for me. You've got Mitt Romney trying to convince everyone that he's not a liberal, Rudy Guliani referencing 9/11 enough times to make a good drinking game out of it, Ron Paul calling everyone crazy, and enough Hillary Clinton references that you'd think she was at the debate.
So yes, the YouTube debates may seem a bit like a farce, but it's no worse than what you get otherwise.

Actually I am glad they don't vote!  I think we need to swap the drinking age with the voting age.  And BTW I have watched C-Span since I have had access to it.  Maybe 20+ yr olds need to start acting like grown ups & watching grown up chanels.  I see you tube as a teen thing also, not a place for adults to gather information as important as who to vote into the highest office in the country!

Youtube debates are one of the dumbest things I have ever seen, for the people running for the highest office in the world to think they have to put up with this, sad. And the democrats are scared of FoxNews. WOW!! Clinton News Network. Another "going down hill" news system. And yes, I think it was dumb for the Dems to do the same thing.

The setup was treating the candidates like a joke and that is what the public is going to treat them as such. A more respectable youtube question setup would be more earning of respect. You want respect, you need to give the same. It's no wonder why more young people don't go vote.