Efforts to wed traditional presidential politics with the direct democracy of the internet yesterday produced a slightly dysfunctional marriage as opinions varied over Monday night’s experimental coupling.

In old-fashioned political terms, the turning point in the CNN-YouTube debate – in which questions were posed on videos posted online from ordinary Americans – came when the Democratic presidential candidates were asked if they would meet leaders of hostile states such as Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea within a year of being elected.

“I would,” an unhesitating Barack Obama replied, adding that America has an “obligation to find areas where we can move forward”.

Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner in the race, spotted a chance to reinforce the impression that her chief rival was inexperienced on foreign policy. “Well,” she said, “I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries in my first year. I don’t want to be used for propaganda purposes. I don’t want to make a situation even worse . . . until we know better what the way forward would be.”

Pundits generally agreed that Mrs Clinton had delivered another sure-footed performance. A snap opinion poll suggested that Mrs Clinton had won the debate. However, when the results of focus groups began to come in two out of three suggested that Mr Obama had won. A meeting in New Hampshire judged his answer on talking to foreign dictators to be his best moment – and rated Mrs Clinton as the fourth-best candidate. A similar picture emerged on the internet discussion boards that are favoured by the Democratic online activists.

They have never much liked Mrs Clinton and were more inclined to declare that Mr Obama’s honesty had impressed them the most. Others were more excited by the passion of John Edwards, who is placed third in the race for the Democratic nomination by opinion polls. This conflicting evidence explains why Mrs Clinton’s lead is still regarded as vulnerable to an internet-driven “insurgency” in the Democratic primaries next year.

CNN had insisted on selecting which of the 2,000-plus videos would be screened. But many of the questions still had a freshness and directness that was lacking from traditional presidential debates.

Mr Obama, asked if he was “authentically black enough”, replied that when he had tried to hail a cab in Man-hattan – a notorious frustration for African Americans – “I think I’ve given my credentials”. Mrs Clinton was confronted by questions that few journalists would dare ask: was she “satisfactorily feminine” and “how was she going to be taken seriously as president by Muslim nations who regard women as second-class citizens?”. “There isn’t much doubt in anyone’s mind that I can be taken seriously,” she replied, adding that she “couldn’t run as anything other than a woman”.

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