(4 August 2007 1:53 pm)

MUMBAI: The race for the next US president is being fought on a new battlefield altogether - the web. The latest to provide a platform for the same is Yahoo! which will host the first web-only U.S presidential debate.

The streaming video event slated for 12 September will feature all eight Democratic presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, says a report in The Washington Post.

Unlike the CNN-Youtube debate which aired on cable television nationwide, this event will be only broadcast online and tech-savvy voters will be able to post questions in real-time.

It will offer customised viewing options as viewers will be able to choose which streaming video of the candidate of their choice and filter out questions not related to the much-debated Iraq issue.

The debate comes at a time when Yahoo! is trying to match up to Google and YouTube in the online video offerings. By the end of this year, Yahoo is planning to completely revamp its video-based content. Record labels like Universal and EMI will provide music videos while the Associated Press and CNN will offer news clips to the site.