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Forget stuffy TV moderators who ask those oh-so-scripted questions of the presidential candidates.

Tonight's YouTube/CNN debate for the Democratic presidential hopefuls is all about regular folks - and some not-so-regular people - who have submitted their videotaped questions over the Internet for the debate.

Take crazy-haired and shirtless John Dardenne, who with his eyes wide wants to know if he can be an intern for Sen. Hillary Clinton, "given the precedent set by previous Clinton administrations."

Dardenne had the same question for Sen. Joe Biden.

Other questions were just for Gov. Bill Richardson, including one from two down-home guys (Jackie Broyles and Dunlap) from something called Red State Update from Mufreesboro, Tenn.

Dunlap, who poses his question in really bad Spanish, wants to know how Richardson feels about making English the country's official language. The video is funny in a "Colbert Report" fake funny kind of way.

Other videos include the run-of-the-mill questions on health care, education and crime, unintended pregnancies. A woman riding a fake ostrich asked something, but the stuffed bird is more memorable than what she asked.

Two videos for former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel mostly involve questioners staring into the camera and saying nothing. (Was he the guy who had long pauses during previous debates and his own YouTube campaign videos?) Meanwhile, one young man just had to ask about the invasive species in the Great Lakes.

Speaking of species, not all questions came from humans. A slew were posed by aliens, while others came from cartoon characters and a computer-generated Hillary Clinton, who posed a question for the real Hillary Clinton.

One question is from an Albuquerque native who lives somewhere in South America. Patrick Furlong wants to know whether candidates would support having students learn foreign languages.

Oh, what did we do before YouTube?

The higher-ups at CNN and YouTube will choose the winning videos to be posed to the Democrats during the two-hour event.

(Yes, the debate does have a moderator, but it's Anderson Cooper, and he's about as far from stuffy moderator as it gets.)

See the debate live on CNN at 5 p.m. Mountain Time.

And, log on to the "Bill Richardson Log" at ABQTrib.com to critique the governor's performance and rate the questions asked by viewers like you.