Here’s a bunch of links to stories on the CNN/YouTube Debate…

The New York Times’ Katherine Q Seelye…

David Bohrman, the Washington bureau chief for CNN, who has been sitting in a production bus in South Carolina for several days scanning the submissions and helping pick which ones to broadcast, said that at a minimum, the new format would prompt some excitement.

“You can’t set out to make a revolutionary shift,” he said. “But you can set out to push the definition of a debate.”

Mr. Bohrman said he had been surprised by how few questions there were about Iraq, how broad the age range was of the questioners and how many of the videos showed a person just talking into the camera. He said that although he had expected some flashy production values and backgrounds, the simplicity of those submitted made him think more about the question.

“They will force the candidates to really connect to these people,” Mr. Bohrman said. “They are very focused.”

The LA Times’ Paul Brownfield…

“We will make responsible editorial decisions about what will air during the debate,” e-mailed David Bohrman, CNN senior vice president and Washington bureau chief, when I asked if Gavin’s upload really stood a chance of getting onto the broadcast.

If the implication of involving YouTube is that Gavin, a town hall participant by virtue of nothing more exclusive than his Internet connection, can sail unfettered into the maw of a wide-open presidential campaign, the reality is something different.

CNN, after all, is still the gatekeeper here and as a news organization has to worry about maintaining access to the Clinton campaign.

“I think the candidates are banking on the fact that a journalist like you wouldn’t let a question like the one we just saw through,” Democratic strategist Steve McMahon told Roberts of the Gavin query.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Aman Batheja…

So far, CNN representatives have indicated that the weirder videos are unlikely to make it on. That means no airtime for the British guy asking about whether the candidates will allow for a hearing on alien life, or those two fellows with Southern accents who want to know whether former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards thinks he’s cute.

The Hartford Courant has a wire service story…

CNN political director Sam Feist said the network wants the debate “to look and feel different” but still be serious, requiring some judiciousness.

He may have a point: The video submission most viewed by YouTube users by Wednesday afternoon was a send-up by a self-described debate “crasher” from Canada who suggests Californians elected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger twice because “a cyborg of his nature could stop a future nuclear war.”