Watch Dana Bash's report about how a group of undecided GOP voters reacted to Wednesday's debate.

(CNN) - As the country watched Wednesday night's CNN/YouTube Republican debate, CNN had a group of 24 undecided GOP voters react to the debate in real-time through devices called "peoplemeters."  In this report, Dana Bash takes a look at how key moments from the debate were received by the undecided voters.

Related video: Gauging Thompson on abortion

Related video: Enact the fair tax

Related video: Immigration a heated topic

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Nearly 5 million viewers tuned in to watch the CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate Wednesday night, making it the highest rated primary debate in cable news history.

A total of 4.9 million viewers watched the Republican candidates square off – 4.4 million on CNN and 500,000 on CNN Headline News, which simulcast the debate.

CNN’s Democratic presidential debate at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas two weeks ago is the second highest-rated debate in history, with 4 million total viewers.

With five weeks to go before the first wave of voters weigh in at the polls, the historic television audiences seem to indicate a growing interest in what have shaped up to be wide-open primary contests in both parties.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) - The skies opened up here in Tampa just an hour before the debate. Florida downpours are usually cleansing and invigorating – washing away the day’s dust and grime, feeding new life into roots and leaves. You know that tomorrow will be greener than today was. But tonight’s storm might have been a metaphor for the latest dark cloud hanging over Rudy Giuliani’s bid for the White House.

Revelations that – as mayor of New York – his office may have hid funds for accommodation and security during the time he was courting then girlfriend/soon to be 3rd wife Judith Nathan in New York’s tony Hamptons.

The disclosure sent a new wave of uncertainty through the media and blog worlds. Was it a dime dropped by an opponent? How might it hurt the man who is campaigning on truth and honesty – if not his personal life, at least in government? Would the other candidates pick up on it?

How it plays may come down to what the current occupant of City Hall, Michael Bloomberg has to say about it.

Regardless, it is exactly what a candidate doesn’t want on the night of a big debate like this one. They want to weave their own narrative. Giuliani was at risk of following the news instead of driving it. He is running on his record as mayor.

He insists that the story “is not true” that nothing improper was done, and that he is not responsible for how expenses were reported. But anything that raises questions about how he used public funds while at the helm of America’s biggest city may reflect on how voters think he will handle the nation’s budget. And with Mitt Romney reinvigorating his drive to box Giuliani out of a win in the early primary states and steamroll his way to victory, the former mayor can’t afford to lose even one step in the few weeks remaining.

– American Morning Anchor John Roberts

Tempers flared at last night's debate.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) – Perhaps it was the cloudburst that hit St. Petersburg just before the debate, but there was an awful lot of mud around the Mahaffey Theater. And it only took one question for Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney to pick up a handful and start flinging it about.

The question was on immigration and whether – as President – Giuliani would support so-called “sanctuary cities”. Within moments, Giuliani and Romney were at each other – the former mayor accusing the former governor of employing illegal immigrants to landscape his mansion – Romney muttering something about it being unrealistic to ask everyone with a “funny accent” working at your home for their immigration papers.

“Funny accent”?

Not exactly the way to win the Hispanic vote in America.It’s a sign of how close the early primary race has become. Romney is aggressively trying to shut Giuliani out of a win in the first few contests, hoping that the traditional “winner’s bounce” will change voters’ minds in the big super-Tuesday states and propel him to victory.

With little more than a month left before the Iowa caucuses, the Republican candidates are in a full-on rush to illuminate what separates them from their challengers. As uncertain as the race was months ago, it is even moreso now. The debate is about leadership and record. Who has the qualities and the qualifications for the highest office in the land. And while they’re all trying to be different, they’re also attempting to be the same. Who is toughest on immigration, terrorism, inflated spending, taxes. Who best to bring the Republican party back to its core values. Time is running out, and so the rhetoric gets ever hotter.

This debate offered a spirited comparison of the issues, policies, positions and records of the candidates. But there was one moment that struck me as supremely odd. Why was John McCain trying to score points by attacking Ron Paul? Paul is an attention-getter to be sure. And for many people – a lot of what he says makes an awful lot of sense. But if McCain hopes to become the nominee, he needs to tell voters how he differs from Giuliani, Romney and Thompson, not Ron Paul.

– American Morning Anchor John Roberts

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) - A few quick observations - the only time Sen. Hillary Clinton has been mentioned is in the pre-produced spots that the campaigns submitted to CNN and YouTube. No one has mentioned her on stage. Is anyone else surprised by that?

Also, is it just me or did there not use to be so much booing at presidential debates?

And no, your eyes are not deceiving you, that is indeed action star Chuck Norris sitting in the audience. He is supporting former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

– AC360 Associate Producer Jack Gray

Romney and Giuliani tussled over immigration at the beginning of the debate.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - In the first moments of the CNN/YouTube debate, sparks flew between former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on the issue of so-called sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants.

After Romney attacked Giuliani for saying New York was not a sanctuary city, Giuliani responded by saying Romney lived in a "sanctuary mansion" and that Romney employed illegal immigrants at his own home.

Romney denied the allegations.

Full story

– CNN Political Assignment Editor Katy Byron

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) - All these guys are trying to out tough-talk each other on illegal immigration. Including John McCain. They clearly got the same message from McCain's spectacular fall from grace this summer: Conservatives will not support any Republican who is in any way sympathetic to illegal immigrants. Including President Bush.

– CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider

Watch the candidates debate immigration.

(CNN) – Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee jumped into the immigration showdown with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, saying that although immigrants are part of what makes the United States a great nation, "It's our home. We now get to decide who comes into our home. To place somebody above [those waiting for legal immigration] or in front of them in line is the wrong thing to do."

Thompson said federal funding should be cut off to cities that provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants.

Thompson also took a jab at Giuliani, who bashed Romney for employing illegal immigrants, and defended his own record of employee scandals.

"I think we've all had people probably that we've hired that in retrospect probably was a bad decision," Thompson said, referring to a campaign fundraiser and personal friend who resigned from the Thompson campaign because of drug-related crimes and issues with the IRS.

– CNN Associate Producer Natalie Apsell

(CNN) - From the first moments of the debate, the crowd at the Mahaffey Theater played a major role in setting the dynamic for the candidates.

Quick to applaud and to boo, the packed house had all eight GOP presidential hopefuls working to get their applause - and to avoid the jeers.

A testy back-and-forth between former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney over immigration early in the debate was punctuated by frequent applause and some jeers.

When moderator Anderson Cooper tried to move on to the next question and Giuliani jumped back to respond to Romney's remarks, members of the crowd booed. Giuliani quickly paused, and the next YouTube question was played.

– CNN's Josh Levs

Thompson took aim at Romney and Giuliani early Wednesday night.

(CNN) - In his first at-bat of the night, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee didn't hesitate to go after two of his main rivals, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In response to a question about immigration, Thompson accused Romney of supporting President George W. Bush's failed immigration reform plan, and then shifting positons. He then joined Romney in going after Giuliani by also labeling New York a sanctuary city while Giuliani was mayor.

– CNN Nevada Producer Alexander Marquardt

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, on the left, introduced the GOP presidential candidates on Wednesday night.

(CNN) – Florida Gov. Charlie Crist introduced the eight participants in the debate in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

Crist introduced them in the order of the positions they took on the stage, from right to left: Rep. Duncan Hunter of California; Rep. Ron Paul of Texas; Sen. John McCain of Arizona; former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee; former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York; former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts; former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado.

Each candidate greeted Crist with a smile and a handshake before lining up for a group photograph.

– CNN writer Jim Kavanagh

Chris Nandor used his YouTube submission to perform an ode to the GOP presidential field.

(CNN) - The first YouTube video clip shown at Wednesday night's debate was not a question. Instead, it was an opportunity for one voter to handicap the Republican presidential candidates in song.

– CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

(CNN) - The CNN/YouTube debates are all about you. Your questions are driving the discussion during tonight's historic Republican debates - but the discussion doesn't end there.

This is your chance to be a part of the Best Political Team on TV and online. We want you to give us your take on how the candidates do.

First watch tonight's CNN/YouTube Debates at 8 p.m. ET. Then, send your political analysis to CNN via I-Report.

Simply upload your videotaped response here.

Your opinions could be part of CNN's post-debate coverage. So go ahead and join the conversation and let your voice be heard!

Go backstage at tonight's CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) - CNN.com's Melissa Long takes a look at what's going on behind the scenes ahead of tonight's CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate.

Tonight's CNN/YouTube debate will likely be heated.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) - The Sunshine State takes center stage Wednesday night in the race for the White House as eight Republican presidential candidates face off in the party's first CNN/YouTube debate.

With five weeks and one day to go until the first votes are cast in the race for the White House, the stakes could hardly be higher.

The candidates will be fielding video questions submitted by the public via the YouTube Web site, just as Democratic White House hopefuls did in July.

Full story 

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

Giuliani holds the lead in a new poll out of Florida.

ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA (CNN) - He may be trailing in the early primary states, but in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, it appears Rudy Giuliani is the front runner in the Sunshine State.

If the Florida Republican primary were held today, the former New York City mayor would finish on top with support of 38 percent of likely primary voters, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Tuesday. (Full poll results [PDF])

That's 21 points ahead of his closest rival, Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor received the support of 17 percent of those polled, with Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee tied at 11 percent.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is at 9 percent in the survey, followed by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 5 percent, Rep. Duncan Hunter of California at 1 percent and Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado at less than 1 percent.

The poll, involving telephone interviews with 300 voters likely Florida Republican presidential primary voters, was conducted November 25-26. The poll's margin of sampling error was plus-or-minus 5.5 percentage points.

Full story

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

The Thompson family arrived in Florida Tuesday for the CNN/YouTube debate.

Somewhere over South Carolina (CNN) - I am in a coach middle seat, flying from Washington, D.C. to Tampa, Florida on US Airways Flight 1491, destined for the CNN-YouTube GOP debate in St. Petersburg.

The child cooing two rows in front of me is Samuel Thompson, potentially the nation’s future first toddler. Come inauguration time, the GOP presidential hopeful's youngest son would be about two years old. The pint-sized campaigner sports short blond hair and a giggly, camera-ready smile.

The whole Thompson clan is on board: Fred, Jeri, daughter Hayden, 4, some extended family, and of course, a few Thompson suits. The former Tennessee senator and wife fly first class, but it’s a far cry from private jets.

On the tram to the terminal, I ask the Law & Order star whether he’s reviewed all 5,000 YouTube questions in preparation for tomorrow’s debate.

He shakes his head and admits, “I didn’t know there were that many.”

– CNN Senior Producer Alex Wellen

CNN's Jeanne Moos takes a look at some of the YouTube questions not likely to be chosen for Wednesday's debate.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Nearly 5,000 YouTube questions have been submitted for Wednesday's CNN/YouTube debate, and not all of them are entirely serious. CNN's Jeanne Moos takes a look at those most unlikely to be chosen.

Catch the CNN/YouTube debate Wednesday night, 8 p.m. ET.

Crist submitted a YouTube question for the CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) - Florida’s Republican governor is getting into the YouTube act.

The Republican Party of Florida today unveiled a question submitted by Governor Charlie Crist for tomorrow night’s CNN YouTube debate, which is being held in St. Petersburg.

The debate, which is a first for the Republican presidential candidates, features video questions submitted from YouTube users from across the country and around the world.

“I asked a simple question to the Republican presidential candidates - a question that has a significant national impact but also has strong ties to the State of Florida and our people,” Crist said in a statement. “Would they, as candidates for President of the United States, support a national catastrophe fund similar to Florida’s hurricane catastrophe fund?”

Florida has a state hurricane catastrophe fund and Crist is one of the major proponents of a national version of that fund.

CNN and YouTube received 4,926 submissions to the debate through Sunday night.

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

A CNN satellite truck up early Sunday for reporter live shots.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN)– Sure, we’d rather be sleeping in on a Sunday morning, but we’re up early and on the job down here in Florida. We’re just outside the Mahaffey Theater along Bayshore Drive. The theater is where the Republican presidential candidates will face off Wednesday night in a CNN YouTube debate.

Inside the theater stage hands and production workers will spend all day building the stage and hanging lights and cables, in advance of the debate.

Outside, we’ll be doing live reports all day on the race for the White House. It’s an early start for us, but it’s nice and warm out, a lot warmer than Iowa or New Hampshire right now.

Click here to see CNN's new political portal: CNNPolitics.com

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

The CNN Election Express on location in St. Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN)– The CNN Election Express is in Florida. That’s where the Republican presidential candidates will face off this Wednesday in a CNN YouTube debate.

While Florida’s long played an important role in general election in the race for the White House (remember the Florida recount in 2000), this time around it’s also playing a larger role in the primary process. That’s because the Sunshine State moved up the date of its primary to late January.

Right now Senator Hillary Clinton of New York is the front runner in polls in Florida in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. In surveys of Republican voters in Florida, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s on top.

The CNN Election Express just made a cross country trip. Dale Fountain drove the bus to Florida from Las Vegas, where CNN hosted a Democratic presidential debate on November 15th.

Click here to see CNN's new political portal: CNNPolitics.com

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

These debate questions feature unusual leading characters.

(CNN) - In this compilation, Anderson Cooper shows you some submissions that feature unexpected questioners - everyone from Abraham Lincoln, Uncle Sam, Santa Claus, and more.  Watch this clip.

Full story

The GOP presidential hopefuls will take questions from voters in the second CNN/YouTube debate on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

What will you ask?

WASHINGTON (CNN) - All eight major Republican presidential candidates will participate in the CNN/YouTube/Republican Party of Florida debate scheduled for November 28 in St. Petersburg, Florida, organizers of the event announced Monday.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, Arizona Sen. John McCain, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson have confirmed they will take part in this innovative, live forum that will feature user-generated video questions submitted to YouTube's Web site.

CNN's Anderson Cooper will moderate the two hour debate that will begin at 8 p.m. ET.

CNN and YouTube teamed up with the South Carolina Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee in July for a similar debate held in Charleston.

CNN and YouTube hosted a debate for Democratic presidential candidates last month.

DES MOINES (CNN) – The Republican Party of Florida, CNN and YouTube will announce Monday that the organizations' Republican presidential debate will be held on Nov. 28, two months before Sunshine State voters hold their gateway primary into "Super Tuesday."

Originally, the three partners targeted Sept. 17 as the date for the debate that will feature video questions submitted by voters through YouTube. But some campaigns expressed concerns about the timing of the event and the debate partners worked to find an alternative date.

CNN's Anderson Cooper will moderate this debate that will be held at the Mahaffey Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts in St. Petersburg. In July, CNN and YouTube partnered with the South Carolina Democratic Party to hold a similar debate in Charleston. Cooper also moderated that event, which was sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee as the party's first official presidential primary debate of the 2008 race for the White House.

Candidates such as New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain have told the partners they will participate.

– CNN Political Editor Mark Preston

The war of words between Clinton and Obama continued Saturday

(CNN)–Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack said he is disappointed with Senator Barack Obama's comments earlier this week about Senator Hillary Clinton. In a stop in Concord, New Hampshire on Thursday, Obama referred to Clinton's approach to foreign policy as "Bush-Cheney light."

"Not only is that not correct, it is a distortion of Senator Clinton's comments and her record," Vilsack said. "But it flies in the face of the promise that Senator Obama gave to all of us when he began his campaign of avoiding negative politics and campaigning with politics as usual."

Vilsack, a Democrat, is the national co-chair of Clinton's presidential campaign.

The Obama and Clinton campaigns have been involved in a war of words over how they would engage rogue governments if elected president. At last Monday's CNN/You Tube Debate, Clinton said she would not meet with leaders of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela without precondition. Obama, invoking John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan's diplomacy during the Cold War, said that he would meet with leaders of those countries during his first year in office..

Clinton said she did not want to see the power and prestige of the office of the presidency used for what she called “propaganda purposes.” .

"I'm not afraid to lose the P.R. wars to dictators," Obama said Thursday. "I'm happy to look them in the eyes and say what needs to be said..I don't want Bush-Cheney Light."

In a press conference call Saturday, Vilsack took issue with Obama. "Those comments are so wrong, one could say certainly audacious, but honestly they are not particularly hopeful. And I am disappointed in the Senator."

"This is a substantive debate during which she called Obama irresponsible and naive," said an official with the Obama campaign in response to Vilsack. "Obama has been entirely consistent - he never said he would invite dictators over for a cup of coffee and he said he wouldn’t let these dictators use him as a propaganda tool. What he did say was that he would be willing to meet with them."

Obama campaigned in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday.

–CNN Political Desk Editor Jamie Crawford

The Clinton and Obama campaigns are clashing over the meaning of one of Obama’s answers.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The spat between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is really about calling attention to your opponent's weakness.

In politics, just like in prizefighting, you look for your opponent's weakness and pound away at it. In the debate this week, Obama portrayed himself as new and different - the total opposite of George W. Bush. "The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them, which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration, is ridiculous," Obama said in the CNN/You Tube debate on Monday.

Clinton portrayed herself as experienced and knowledgeable. "You don't promise a meeting until you know the intentions. I don't want to be used for propaganda," she said.

She was going for Obama's weakness - his lack of experience. She kept hammering away at it the next day. "I thought that was very irresponsible and, frankly, naïve to say you would commit to meeting with Chavez and Castro or others within the first year," she said.

Obama came back punching at Clinton's weakness. "If there is anything irresponsible and naïve it was to authorize George Bush to send 160,000 young American men and women into Iraq apparently without knowing how they where going to get out," Obama said.

Her weakness? That she's cautious and calculating. And perhaps too willing to compromise with people like President Bush.

Actually, it was not Obama but John Edwards who used the "T word." "Do you believe that compromise - triangulation - will bring about big change? I don't," Edwards said in the debate.

Remember, it's a fight for the world heavyweight championship. So there's bound to be some trash talk. "Senator Obama gave an answer that he is regretting today," Clinton said.

Obama’s response: You want to talk about regrets, lady? Or as the Illinois senator put it, "Do you want to talk about irresponsibilities? Look at the vote to authorize George Bush to send our troops into Iraq without an exit plan."

Here we are, only a couple of rounds into this fight, and there's already blood on the floor.

–CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider

Watch Chris Dodd’s clip, above, as well as those of the other candidates.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – As part of the historic CNN/YouTube presidential debate Monday, CNN invited the eight Democratic presidential contenders to create a YouTube-style campaign ad.

-Joe Biden on the Iraq war

-Hillary Clinton on the best man for the job

-Chris Dobbs on hard work and white hair

-John Edwards on what really matters

-Mike Gravel speaks

-Dennis Kucinich says text “peace”

-Barack Obama invites voters to turn the page

-Bill Richardson continues his job interview

CNN and YouTube are teaming up again for a Republican presidential debate on September 17th.

– CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Watch CNN’s Mary Snow report on the results from a New Hampshire focus group.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - CNN's Mary Snow reports on how New Hampshire viewers scored the candidates in the CNN/YouTube debate.

(CNN) - Sure, what the candidates say is important, but body language can also make an important impression on voters.

A body language expert, Jo Ellan Dimitrius, studied all of the candidates throughout the two-hour debate and decided that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, won the battle of the body language. Sen. Clinton stood confidently behind the podium and kept her hands on top of the lectern, rather than nervously grabbing onto the sides, Dimitrius observed.

According to Dimitrius, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, also had a strong performance by using confident hand gestures and keeping consistent eye contact with the audience.

During the questions about gay marriage, former Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, had a nervous look, and he put his hands in his pockets, which is also a classic sign of nervousness, Dimitrius said.

– CNN Producer Ted Metzger

Watch CNN’s Candy Crowley wrap up last night’s debate.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Several candidates performed well in Monday’s CNN/YouTube debate, but, as CNN’s Candy Crowley reports, perhaps the real winners were the debate questioners themselves.

(CNN) – Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic candidate John Edwards, has made news in her own right this year - from her public battle with cancer, to taking on conservative commentator Ann Coulter, and most recently, because of a comment she made to Salon.com's Joan Walsh about Sen. Hillary Clinton that "sometimes you feel you have to behave as a man and not talk about women's issues."

Clinton praised Elizabeth Edwards during Monday's debate, saying she has "a great deal of admiration" for her.

When asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer after the debate who she thought would be a better president - her husband or Sen. Clinton - with respect to women's issues, Mrs. Edwards said, "With respect to women's issues, she's in the right place on most everything that I know her positions about. But the truth of the matter is, at this time, American women need a leader, somebody who is not just going to be in the right place, but is going to lead us to the right place."

Mrs. Edwards also said she never accused Clinton of behaving like a man.

– CNN Associate Producer Natalie Apsell

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called Monday's presidential debate a success and predicted the format that allows voters to directly ask candidates questions through the use of video technology as the wave of the future.

"I think is was. One hundred percent homerun," Dean said.

The former Vermont governor, who many considered a pioneer in using the Internet for political purposes, said one of the best things about the debate was the type of questions people asked and the fact it reached out to the young electorate.

"This is one of the best things that has happened since I have been chairman," he said about the debate that was the first DNC sanctioned event of the 2008 presidential election season.

– CNN Political Editor Mark Preston

Nancy McDonald from Wilmington, Delaware

(CNN) - Nancy McDonald from Wilmington, Delaware asks: "We all know that social security is running out of money. But people who earn over $97,500 stop paying into social security. What's up with that?"

What did you think about the candidates' response to the question? What would you have asked? Add your comment below, or better yet, turn on your camera to record your commentary and reaction video and send in your I-Report. Your comments below or you I-Report video could be part of CNN's post-debate coverage.

(CNN) – Sen. Barrack Obama, D-Illinois, took a lot of credit for campaign finance reform tonight.

"I don't take PAC money and I don't take lobbyist money, and the bundlers, the reason you know who is raising money for me, Mike, is because I have pushed through a law this past session to disclose that," Obama said.

Well, that law hasn't actually gone through. The bill that would force lobbyists to disclose more of their activities, including what's known as "bundling," has not become law because it has not passed Congress.

The House and the Senate are trying to hammer out differences between their bills before the August recess.

– CNN Producer Justine Redman

(CNN) - Sen. Joe Biden said he would get rid of tax breaks for "people who don't need them" if elected president, saying the extra money is needed for all the things his fellow Democratic candidates have said they would do.

"My dad used to have an expression - don't tell me what you value, show me your budget," he said during Monday's CNN/YouTube debate in Charleston, South Carolina. Biden said Americans in the top 1 percent of incomes "got an $85 billion a year tax break. It is not needed."

"We need more revenue to be able to pay for the things the governor and everybody else talks about," the Delaware senator said. "And there's only one way to do it. You either raise taxes or take tax cuts away from people who don't need them. I'd take them away from people who don't need them."

– CNN Political Researcher Xuan Thai

(CNN) – Gov. Bill Richardson, D-New Mexico, said the U.S. needs to have a paper trail from the voting machines on election day.

"My state was one of those... that because of the touch tones there was uncertainty about the elections," Richardson said.

He says the paper trail would not only fix the problem of uncertainty but it would help improve low voter turnout.

"We have close to 50% of those Americans eligible to vote voting. That is inexcusable compared to many other nations. We need to have same-day registration."

Richardson also took aim at the GOP. "We need to have an effort to get the Republican party to stop suppressing minority voters."

– CNN Iowa Producer Chris Welch

(CNN) - Univision reporter Maria Elena Salinas told CNN's Wolf Blitzer after the debate that she was "disappointed that there was not more talk and not more debate on the immigration issue."

Salinas said that there are millions of Hispanic voters in the United States that "were hoping to hear a little bit more from the candidates on these different issues that affect the hispanic community."

–CNN Associate Producer Natalie Apsell

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Some of the Democratic presidential frontrunners said that although their faith is important to them, they promised they would keep their beliefs separate from their politics.

"It is crucial that the American people know that as president it will not be my job - and I believe it would be wrong - for me to impose my personal faith beliefs on the American people or to decide any kind of decision, policy decision, that will affect America on the basis of my personal faith beliefs," former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said.

The candidates were asked if they would back the agenda of evangelical Christians or other religious groups as strongly as the current administration. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama agreed with Edwards.

"I am proud of my Christian faith, and it informs what I do," Obama said. "And I don't think that people of any faith background should be prohibited from debating in the public square. But I am a strong believer in the separation of church and state."

– CNN Associate Producer Lauren Kornreich

(CNN) - In what is becoming a consistent message of Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, his YouTube video included a popular line in his stump speech, "We want something new. We want to turn the page."

Obama, Democrat from Illinois, wants to paint himself as a candidate of a younger generation who will not get caught up in the partisan battles in Washington. The video also prominently showed the line "we can change the world" onscreen. It was the final campaign-style YouTube video of the night.

What did you think of Obama's video?

– CNN Producer Ted Metzger

(CNN) – Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, says Congress should not a raise until the lowest paid Americans get more.

"Congress should not get a salary increase until minimum wage is raised," she said in Monday night's debate.

Does she mean another increase? The first minimum wage increase in 10 years was approved recently and takes effect Tuesday. The wage goes from $5.15 an hour to $5.85 an hour, and then over the next two years increases to $7.25.

A senator currently makes just over $165,000, and unless enough senators like Clinton vote to block it, the Senate will get a raise next year.

– CNN's Katy Byron and Craig Broffman

(CNN) – Eyebrows raised and many candidates shifted their feet, licked their lips or rubbed their hands after Cecilia Smith presented her question to the candidates.

"If you're elected to serve, would you be willing to do your service for the next four years and be paid the national minimum wage?," Smith asked in her video.

Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska was first to respond that he would work for the minimum wage and all other democratic candidates joined suit.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said Sen. Dodd 'is doing all right' and that most of the candidates, including himself, could afford to work for minimum wage. But as well as the Democrats are doing, Obama said there is one candidate, a Republican, who is doing even better.

"I mean, we don't have - we don't have Mitt Romney money," Obama joked, referring to the wealthy candidate from Massachusetts.

But then it was Obama's bottomline that became the punchline for another joke.

"I don't have Barack Obama money either," Biden said, adding he'd need to work a second job to afford living if his salary was minimum wage.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, also said he could not afford to live on minimum wage with two young daughters he is "trying to educate."

The national minimum wage will increase 70 cents on Tuesday, from $5.15 to $5.85. While a minimum-wage worker will earn about $12,168 a year before taxes, the current presidential salary is more than $190 per hour or about $400,000 per year in addition to benefits.

– CNN contributor Ebonne Ruffins

(CNN) - As the CNN/Youtube debate wound down Monday night, the questions got a little more spiritual.

Showing two sides of a quarter and reading the inscriptions on each face, a YouTube questioner asked Sen. Joe Biden, of Delaware, how his faith has shaped his life.

Biden paused, looked down, and responded.

"My values, my reason dictates outcome. My religion taught me about power. That's why I take the position I take on the floor. It came about as a consequence of reasoning. I don't find anything inconsistent about my deep religious beliefs."

It was the first prolonged discussion about religion during the debate, though Biden had previously referenced his Roman Catholic faith in response to a question on public versus private schools.

– CNN Contributor Josh Lipsky

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) – Joe Biden won the debate. Well, at least according to the Biden campaign. By my count they were the first campaign to put out a press release crowning their candidate as the winner of the CNN/YouTube presidential debate. The Obama campaign was a close second with a press release declaring victory. And so it goes.

–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

(CNN) – In vintage Clinton fashion, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, takes a question that exposes a potential weakness in her campaign and turns it into a strength.

When asked, if elected to two terms as president, how she felt about a Clinton or Bush serving 28 straight years in the White House, Sen. Clinton replied, "I think it is a problem that Bush was elected in 2000. I actually thought somebody else was elected in that election," in an obvious reference to Al Gore who won the popular vote in 2000, but lost in the electoral college to George W. Bush. The answer was interrupted by a flurry of applause from the audience.

Once the applause died down, she added, "I am running on my own merits, but I am very proud of my husband's record as president of the United States," which was also a good applause line.

–CNN Producer Ted Metzger

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) - The debate is over, now the spin begins.

The spin room is starting to fill up with campaign surrogates, media, and bloggers.

If you are not familiar with a spin room, it's where some of the candidates come to tell the media and bloggers why they won the debate.

The top tier candidates won't come here, so don't expect to see Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. But a team of surrogates from their campaigns, as well as from the other candidates, will start spinning to anyone who will listen.

It's a wild scene, like the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange.

The bottom line. There's a lot of hot air in here.

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

(CNN) - In response to one of the more surreal YouTube videos shown, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, answered a YouTube question from a father and son team of melting snowmen.

"What will you do to ensure that my son will live a full and happy life?" the elder snowman asked.

Kucinich compared the global warming issue to the war in Iraq.

"We have to understand the connection between global warring and global warming. Because when we start talking about wars for oil, we're essentially keeping the same approach to energy," Kucinich replied.

CNN's Anderson Cooper asked Kucinich whether he thinks his fellow and candates are "green enough."

"No," Kucinich responded. "I think that the reason is that if you support, for example, in Iraq, if you say that Iraq should privatize its oil for the U.S. oil companies, then what you're doing is you're continuing a commitment to use more oil."

Kucinich went on to speak about his proposed environmental program.

"We don't have to have our snowmen melting, and the planet shouldn't be melting either," Kucinich said.

– CNN Associate Producer Natalie Apsell

(CNN) - The question was a simple one but it elicited one of the few differences between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama so far in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination: "Would you be willing to meet separately during the first year of your administration, with leaders of Syria, Iran, Venezuela and others to bridge the gap between our countries?"

Obama said he would be willing to have such meetings. "The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them - which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration - is ridiculous," explained Obama.

But, Clinton hedged. She wouldn't promise outright to hold meetings with those countries the way that Obama had. Instead, she promised "a vigorous diplomatic effort" and explained "you don't promise a meeting until you know the intentions. I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes and don't want to make a situation worse."

– CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

(CNN) – There were the predictable sheepish looks. The slightly goofy laughs. For a moment, the eight power players running as Democrats for president turned into awkward parents confronted or recalling The Sex Talk.

But it was just a moment, then the politicians kicked in. At the CNN/YouTube debate, Planned Parenthood worker Anne Laird of Pennsylvania asked the candidates whether they had spoken, in anatomically correct terms, with their children about sex.

"We've been through the whole experience," said a smiling, somewhat jocular John Edwards.

Edwards has a daughter in college and two younger children, aged nine and six. Edward's son Wade died in 1996 when he was 16. The former North Carolina senator said he was sure he had used correct terms in discussing sex with his older children.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, had to confront vocal criticism launched by Republican candidate Mitt Romney earlier in the week. Obama has endorsed some elements of sex education starting in kindergarten, an idea that Romney attacked. Obama fired back at Monday's debate.

"This was the same proposal (Romney) supported when he was running for governor of Massachusetts," Obama said, showing you don't need specific or anatomical terms to convey the idea of a "flip-flop".

– CNN Radio's Lisa Goddard

(CNN) - Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, is really pushing the text. Twice tonight he urged viewers to break out their cell phones and contact his campaign.

"Text peace 7223, text peace now to send a message to the White House and the Democratic Congress that now is the time to end the war," Kucinich said.

The first time he included the call to text was in an answer on Iraq. The second time was in Kucinich's YouTube video.

"Make your vote count and your voice be heard," the ad implored.

But the number does not send a message to the White House or Congress. Texting that number signs the sender up for Iraq updates from the Kucinich campaign.

– CNN contributor Josh Lipsky

(CNN) – At Monday's CNN/YouTube debate the candidates were asked whether their children attended public or private school.

Joe Biden: his two sons attended private school
Hillary Clinton: her daughter went to public school through eighth grade in Arkansas, then private school for high school in Washington
Chris Dodd: public school
John Edwards: all four of his children attend public school
Mike Gravel: his children went to public and private school
Dennis Kucinich: his daughter went to public school
Barack Obama: his two daughters attend private school

– CNN Political Researcher Xuan Thai