This past week we launched an entirely new AOL News product called Hot Seat.

The concept is simple. Take a question of controversial nature, put it in front of an audience with an average of 25 million pageviews per day and it will start a conversation, maybe even a heated debate.

The main objective is to get the candidate to respond. In our first few days of launching, the John Edwards campaign responded to Mark Halperin's question, "Could John Edwards really win Iowa?".

So far the poll has generated 70,914 votes from users across the nation and has spurred Edwards' campaign to respond. His response appears just below the poll results along with hundreds of user comments.

We've gathered a few of the best minds in the political blogesphere to engage the candidates that will be on the Hot Seat. This group includes Arianna Huffington and Bill Maher from the Huffington Post, the Politico's John Harris, Slate's chief political writer John Dickerson and many more.

John Edwards this past Friday. Who will be next? New Polls each weekday...

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