Coalition Wants Debates More Friendly to Voters, Web

With a couple of changes, upcoming U.S. presidential debates could be more friendly to both voters and to the Web, a diverse coalition of bloggers, political consultants and advocates said. The Open Debate Coalition, including both Democrats and Republicans, called on presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to change some of the rules of the debates in a way that would encourage voters to submit and select questions over the Web and would allow Web sites to redistribute video of the debates without copyright concerns. In a letter to the two campaigns, unveiled late Thursday, the coalition asked the two major presidential candidates to allow the public not only to submit questions but also to select which questions are asked in an upcoming debate. Using the Web, the public should be able to vote on which submitted questions are asked, the letter said.