Boxers or briefs? Try Darfur

By Jim Tankersley

DURHAM, N.H. – A day after he faced off with his Democratic rivals in a televised debate, former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) faced a different – but no less serious – live inquisition at the University of New Hampshire this afternoon.

Edwards was the first candidate this year to submit to an hour-long forum sponsored by MTV and MySpace.com. His questioners came from a makeshift studio crowd of a few hundred college students and a live online audience – a young and issue-focused group that showed a slightly different set of priorities than a typical debate panel.

MTV made its name in presidential politics with the now-famous "boxers or briefs?" question posed to President Bill Clinton in 1994. It was hard to say what the "lightest" question was in its forum today, where Edwards was asked about stem cells, subprime lending and whether he considers poverty and AIDS a national security risk.

The students in the crowd – some of whom debated afterwards whether they'd head straight to class or stay for lunch first – focused first and foremost on education. They pressed Edwards for details on how he'd make college more affordable and whether he supported a less "Eurocentric" school curriculum.

They asked about rebuilding New Orleans, raising taxes and pressuring China to help end the genocide in the Sudan. ("Does everybody here follow Dafur and the genocide?" Edwards asked, drawing nods. "I figured you did.")

It took a half-hour and a commercial break before anyone asked about Iraq or health care, which have dominated past Democratic debates.

MTV and MySpace left their mark with the bells and whistles – an American-Idol style panning 360-degree camera, a flowing digital background, questions sent via instant message and a recurring multi-colored pie chart device that showed how online users rated Edwards' answers in real time. By the end, he was up to 93 percent approval.

Chris Cillizza, the Washingtonpost.com reporter and blogger who manned the reaction graphic, gave Edwards a final chance to win over that 7 percent.

Edwards quickly summed his up-from-poverty life story and his desire, as president, to "give everybody the advantages that I've had." He stressed that he had given detailed, specific responses to how he'd manage education, Iraq, health care, global warming, and other issues.

"I have to be honest with you," he said, "if 100 percent of the people out there agree with me, I'd be nervous, because any time everyone agrees with you, you're not saying much."

Edwards didn't always tailor his answers to, let's call it, an MTV attention span – some seemed to last longer than most relationships on "The Real World." But his audience only fidgeted occasionally, and they often nodded along with his points. Perhaps his biggest applause came when, talking about reducing carbon emissions, he said, "I would ask America to sacrifice."

When the forum ended, the MTV hosts thanked the crowd. "There's food on the way out," said SuChin Pak, one of the moderators. "We know what you guys want."