Citizens' questions as tough as professionals'

The questions came from all over the political map.

"Do you support reparations for slavery?" "Are you black enough, Senator Barack Obama?"

"Senator Hillary Clinton, are you tough enough as a woman to be taken seriously by the Arab world?"

But there were some jokers, too.

One video showed a talking snowman fretting that global warming would melt his child away. In another, a man sang a song about high taxes, then lamented, "I got a parking ticket last week, can one of y'all pardon me?"

The "Citizen YouTube" generation bared its teeth Monday night as America watched its first cyber-submission video debate. The questions were arguably as tough as any TV anchor could ask.

Most of the queries carried a left-of-center tilt. And most of the participants were in their 30s or younger, a key constituency pursued by Democrats this year.

Questions about an exit strategy for Iraq were as numerous as those about equality, with videos about the Hurricane Katrina response, legalizing gay marriage and the minimum wage all getting a turn.

The only two submissions identified as coming from South Carolina were from Mike Green of Lexington, who challenged the candidates to identify whether they sent their children to public or private school, and from a woman identified as Charity Woods, hometown not listed, who worried about catastrophic health care as it applied to her mother's diabetes.

Still, it was hard to discern whether the 40 video questions aired represented the majority issues for Democrats in 2008.

But even before the night was over, officials were saying the novelty of citizens submitting their own questions will take off.

Debates are "no longer a province of the elite, or the press," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

"After tonight, I think it's going to be hard to go back to debates how they were, without user- generated comments," added CNN host Anderson Cooper.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at skropf@postandcourier.com or 937-5551.