YouTube Debates - Round 2

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Wednesday will bring us the second installment of the CNN's YouTube debates. This time, it will be the Republican Presidential candidates that will be facing the questions posted in YouTube videos. The Republicans have had an extra two months to prepare for this debate which was originally scheduled for September. In addition to the additional time, they also have the benefit of having seen Democrats face YouTuber's in July.

Sunday, November 25th is the last day to submit videos for the debate. Unlike the last YouTube debate where questions were accepted right up to the night before, it looks like CNN is going to leave themselves a couple of days to review the videos and make their final decisions on which questions they'll fire at the candidates. The extra time is probably a good thing, since the July 23rd Democrat YouTube debate had 2,989 video submissions and as of the writing of this post, there have been 4,372 videos submitted for Wednesday's debate.

I've taken a look at some of the video that have been submitted and here are a few that caught my eye.

Many of the folks that submitted videos for the last YouTube debate returned for an opportunity to grill the Republican candidates. Billiam the Snowman is back with several questions about global warming. (Entry #3595).

Billiam the Snowman isn't the only one questioning climate change, even Santa is raising the question in this video submitted by quietboy. (Entry #1331)

This next video caught my eye not only because of the great animation, but also because it was submitted by a member of the media. The question comes an from editorial cartoonist for The Houston Chronicle. (Entry #1435)

I was expecting to see a few questions about the rising price of gasoline, but this question from Travature addresses the broader issue of transportation. (Entry #2573)

You can't seem to have a primary debate anymore without asking questions about the other party. This next video was submitted by harriswhistles. The animated video questions have received a variety of criticisms. In this video, the animated character shows a picture of the person who is voicing the question.(Entry #3282)

Can't create animated video? How about using a puppet? I like Mojo, but his eyes can be just a bit distracting. (Entry #497)

The production quality of many of the videos is phenomenal. TeamGaia submitted a question in the form of an original rap. (Entry #1296)

With puppets, animated characters, and snowmen you start to think that there aren't very many real people in the videos. A video from filmakr1 poses a question from Joe (a Republican) and Joe (a Democrat). (Entry #153).

Our last video, what's politics without pork? (Entry #3619 from Dewquix)

With a pool of over 4,000 videos to select the questions, Wednesday night's debate should be quite interesting. Anderson Cooper will moderate the Republican YouTube Debate from St. Petersburg, Florida which will air on CNN at 8pm ET on Wednesday, November 28.

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Mystery Journalist

This week's Mystery Journalist was TJ Holmes.