MySpace Launches Presidential Debates Site

A new presidential debates website from MySpace will let users watch the three presidential debates live, track issues important to them, and share debate clips online.

MySpace partnered with the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) to launch MyDebates.org today. Voters do not have to register with MySpace to use the site, which is geared towards drawing more Internet users into the political process.

First-time visitors are given a quiz on 14 issues and, based on their answers, are told whether they agree with Barack Obama, John McCain, or neither on each. Once the first debate begins Sept. 26, users will be able to sort clips of the debates according to those 14 issues, share the clips with friends, and embed them in their own web pages.

In addition to broadcasting each debate live on the site, CPD will let MyDebates users submit questions for Obama and McCain, which CPD will consider for inclusion in the town-hall-style debate on Oct. 7.

“We believe that this landmark partnership will do for the debate series what TV did for the Kennedy Nixon debates in 1960,” MySpace said upon launching the site today. “People, especially the youth voters so critical to this election, are living their lives online and getting the majority of their news and information there now.”

MyDebates marks the first-ever online partnership for the presidential debates, and it is the latest of several election sites launched by online giants for the ’08 race, as YouTube launched its YouChoose election channel in spring 2007, and Google launched its own election site last month.