A few months ago, Democrats were grilled by the people in a CNN debate with questions provided by YouTube. Now the Republicans finally have their chance, as tonight they go before a crowd in Florida with the second YouTube presidential debate.
The debates are almost two months overdue, with an originally scheduled date of September 24th, but after some hiccups getting all the candidates on board it now appears that the wide berth of Republican contenders are ready to declare their social media savviness and take part in this unconventional debate.
The debates ought to prove interesting not only because of the likelihood of some cheeky questions and fiery debate, but also due to the general heat that’s increased in the presidential race over the past few months. With Iowa only five weeks away, and New Hampshire, Michigan and dozens of other states following quickly, this presidential debate is a critical appearance.
While it must be a chagrin to traditional media-philes, there’s no way to understate the importance of the web on the campaign trail. With over 75 million American voters taking up the way in their search for political news and information on candidates, and paid search, Facebook, viral campaigns and now YouTube all playing a key part in how electable candidates appear, the age of the Elections 2.0 is thoroughly here.
