The Republican debate on August 5th and the Democratic debate on August 19th will signal the start of ABC News 2008 Presidential Election coverage, dubbed “Vote 2008,” the network announced today.
Coming on the heels of the CNN/YouTube debate, the network will also be seeking out viewer submitted video and email questions that may be addressed to the candidates.
The Iowa debates will each begin at 8AM central time and will run 90 minutes; they will both air as special editions of This Week with GeorgeStephanopoulos. Stephanopoulos will be moderating, with the Des Moines Register David Yepsen joining in the questioning.
ABC News Now will re-air the debates at 3PM eastern time and will give viewers a behind the scenes look at the debates. Rick Klein, author of the daily News Now Note, will host.
As part of News Now’s coverage, the program will feature a segment called “Talk Back” to the Candidates. “Talk Back” will feature audience submitted questions, in both written and video form, and will pose them to the candidates and their staff. Viewers will be able to submit their questions and upload their videos to ABCnewsnow.com.
The announcement comes the day after CNN and YouTube held their joint Democratic debate in Los Angeles, which featured video questions submitted by YouTube users.
In addition, special editions of The Issues and Politics Live will air the day after the debates, and will provide an analysis of how the candidates performed in the debates. The Issues will feature a roundtable of ABC News off-air reporters, while Sam Donaldson and David Chalian will co-anchor Politics Live.
