• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 15, 2007

In the spirit of open engagement, CNN and YouTube will team up to produce two Presidential debates driven entirely by questions submitted through the video-sharing goliath.

"I think these debates represent a giant leap forward in the way that news organizations cover elections," Jon Klein, president of CNN, said on a press call Thursday. "What we are excited about here is the fact that no debate has ever had the potential of being more inclusive."

Each two-hour debate--for Democratic candidates on July 23, and Republicans on Sept. 17--will be moderated by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, and will likely address between 20 and 30 questions.

The debates, to be broadcast live on CNN, will feature massive video projectors streaming queries submitted by voters. Plugging YouTube's parent company, video queries will be preceded by Google Earth maps showing their geographical location.

"We are doing this because we are bringing a level of authenticity to politics and it is bringing transparency and access to voters in a new way," Chad Hurley, YouTube co-founder and CEO, said during Thursday's press call.

Altruistic objectives aside, YouTube and its rivals are using what is certain to be a heated Presidential election to engage voters.

YouTube earlier this year launched its You Choose '08 Web page, which brings together the individual video channels created by U.S. presidential hopefuls, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. Candidates can post videos addressing particular issues, while users can submit videos and written comments for possible posting.

Similarly, MySpace is hosting candidates' profiles and an online voter registration drive, and plans to host a general Presidential vote on Jan. 1 and 2 of next year.

Sensing a sea change in national politics, candidates have been campaigning online since January. Sen. John Edwards' blog ads, for example, began appearing that month on political sites like Daily Kos, AmericaBlog, and Crooks and Liars.

At the same time, Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign also began running ads on blogs more in line with his conservative policies like OutsideTheBeltway.com, RightWingNews.com, and the Townhall.com network.