"We thought we could offer today's new 'cyber-audience' something beneficial, and give a definite glimpse of how online voting is going to work," said Ted Hebert, manager of marketing communications for Aprisma Management Technologies, a unit of Cabletron Systems that is the lead underwriter for the Wired Vote project.

The Democrats will debate Wednesday and the Republicans on Thursday at the University of New Hampshire.

The Web cast will be taken from the signal being used by New Hampshire Public Television to broadcast the debate, so people watching their computer should see the same thing as people watching their television.

The site also will feature a series of instant voting and commentary sections for Web surfers.

"This will allow visitors, political enthusiasts, the general audience, whoever, to log in their responses to how candidates are answering questions as it is happening, so you're really getting real-time feedback from the audience as to how they (candidates) are doing," Hebert said.

"We'll be typing in questions asked by moderators, and also questions of our own -- 'Was this a fair question,' 'How do you think the candidate answered that question' -- and giving five minutes for people to answer it."

Hebert said each computer address can vote only once during the five-minute span.

Other high-publicity Webcasts, ranging from fashion shows to rock concerts, have done similar things.