• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 30, 2007

It looks like the Republican YouTube debate is back on. CNN, YouTube and the Republican Party of Florida announced Monday that the Republican debate will go forward after being delayed two months when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Governer Mitt Romney balked at participating in the event.

The debate, in which candidates will answer questions posed by voters in videos posted to YouTube, is set for Nov. 28 at the Progress Energy Center for Performing Arts in St. Petersburg. GOP candidates signed up so far include Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Rep. Tom Tancredo and former Sen. Fred Thompson.

Representatives for both the Giuliani and Romney campaigns said Monday the two candidates planned to participate. Following the Democratic YouTube/CNN sponsored debate, Romney expressed skepticism with the user-generated format, especially a video question from a talking snowman.

"I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman," he told the Manchester Union Leader.

But the Democratic debate on July 23 generated considerable buzz and drew 2.6 million viewers, 400,000 of whom were in the prized 18-to-34 demographic. So far, more than 2,600 videos have been submitted to YouTube for the Republican debate. No word on whether snowmen will be excluded.