Obama, Paul Confirmed for MTV, MySpace, AP Presidential Special

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK, February 1: Senator Barack Obama and
Representative Ron Paul have signed on to participate in Closing Arguments:
A Presidential Super Dialogue, which will
air tomorrow through a partnership between MTV, MySpace and the Associated
Press.

The event will offer candidates polling above 10 percent a
final chance to address the nation before Super Tuesday, when more than 20
states hold presidential primaries or caucuses, effectively deciding the
Republican and Democratic candidates for the general election. Senator Hillary
Clinton and Mike Huckabee have already confirmed their participation.

The event is part of MySpace and MTV’s Presidential
Dialogue series, and will take place on
Saturday, February 2 at 6 p.m. on several mediums. On television it will be
aired by MTV, MTV2 and MTV Tr3s; online it can be viewed live through MySpace’s
Impact Channel, the social network’s political hub, as well as MTV’s
ChooseOrLose.com; on radio via XM Satellite Radio, MTV and AP Radio; and on
mobile phones through MTV Mobile. It will also be translated to Spanish and
broadcast online on ImpreMedia’s LaVibra. Additionally, the Associated Press
will distribute a live feed and on-demand highlights of the dialogue to the
1,800 media sites in its Online Video Network; nearly 600 of those are local
TV, newspaper or radio sites in states with Super Tuesday primaries on February
5.

John McCain and Mitt Romney have also been invited to
participate in the event. MTV News correspondents Gideon Yago and Sway
Calloway, as well as WashingtonPost.com political reporter Chris Cillizza will
moderate, joined by an AP political reporter covering the campaign.

Each candidate will have the floor for roughly 15-20
minutes, answering questions submitted in real-time via MySpaceIM,
ChooseOrLose.com and from the live audience in MTV's Times Square studio in New
York. Viewers watching online can also use a polling tool, powered by Flektor,
to indicate their approval or disapproval of candidates’ responses. The poll
results will be monitored during the live broadcast, and will help guide the
direction of the forum.

—By Ned Berke