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Obama follows Clinton, McCain to Yahoo Answers

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
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Elinor Mills

U.S. Senator Barack Obama is the latest presidential candidate to ask a question on Yahoo Answers as a way to engage voters.

Obama asks: "How can we engage more people in the democratic process?"

He may be surprised at how cynical the Yahoo Answers crowd is. Many said the first thing that needs to be done is restore citizens' trust in politicians and the system.

"Stop boring them to death by commencing the presidential campaign two years prior to the election," wrote someone using the screen name "Widows 'n Orphans."

DeadCatBounce1 wrote, "As long as the masses are swayed by faulty rhetoric and unsubstantiated smear campaigns, it won't do us much good to get more of them involved."

And another poster was even more blunt: "Make promises that are kept. Give Special Interest Groups the boot and push for nationalized funding for candidates. People are sick of the favoritism. Pork projects should become a thing of the past."

Senator Hillary Clinton's question was: "Based on your own family's experience, what do you think we should do to improve health care in America?" and Senator John McCain's was: "What would you do to stop wasteful government spending in Washington?"