MySpace and MTV announced yesterday that they are hosting the first of 11 "Presidential Candidate Dialogues" next Thursday in New Hampshire.

The first is with Edwards, but most of the major candidates on both sides -- including Giuliani, Romney, Clinton and Obama -- have already signed on.

The goal of these interactive town halls, held with one candidate at a time, is to empower people, through online media, to ask questions of the candidates and give feedback on their answers in real time. Of course the pessimists argue that this format could also be merely a softball love-fest filled with questions like, "boxers or briefs?"

Regardless of which camp you fall in, I'm pleased to not only see major media outlets like MySpace and MTV trying modern, tip-of-the-spear experiments in participatory democracy, but also Republican candidates stepping up and agreeing to participate on the modern campaign trail.

If you want to participate in the first town hall, you can watch the debate on MySpaceTV or MTV.com on Sept. 27 at noon.