YouTube CNN Debates OK

Tonight YouTube and CNN hosted the Democratic debate with questions from YouTube users. The questions were weak at times, but it was refreshing to see regular people asking the candidates questions. To often the videos were a bit cute for such a serious issue. Also CNN still was the gate keeper, because they picked which questions would be asked. Anderson Cooper was the moderator, and seemed to interrupt the candidates far to much. Some of the questions really deserve more time than a thirty second sound bite. YouTube only received 3000 video questions, which doesn’t seem like that much when compared to how many hits YouTube gets every day. Hillary Clinton showed that she is very good at debating and had a strong showing. Barack Obama had some good points as well. All the candidates also submitted their own commercials. Mike Gravel appeared to be an old curmudgeon at times but gave a good answer when he was asked if he believed that the soldiers are dieing in vain. Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden all did a good job. From Dennis Kucinich all I can remember is text peace. More time was given to the questions than the answers sometimes, and some questions really wasted our time. Why would Anderson Cooper ask them if they arrived on a private jet? The winner was the American public, CNN, and YouTube. The loser, Mike Gravel.
Alan Cosgrove