Guide Note

CNN and YouTube teamed up for a series of historic debates featuring YouTube-user-submitted questions. The Republican debate took place in St. Petersburg, Florida, and preceded the Democratic debate held in Charleston, South Carolina.

1. Date: July 23, 2007
2. Democratic Candidates: Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Mike Gravel
3. 39 questions asked
4. 3,000 questions submitted

1. Date: November 28, 2007
2. Moderator: Anderson Cooper
3. Republican Candidates: John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul
4. 5,000 questions submitted
5. Event co-sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida

Following the Republican debate, CNN was accused of showing bias against the Republican candidates by allowing several questions from questioners known to support Democratic presidential candidates. Some of these questioners asked about issues such as gays in the military, farm subsidies, abortion, and lead toys from China. CNN apologized for any appearance of bias and said that they would not have used any questions from anyone known to support an opposing candidate.