Miss the GOP debate? We've got you covered.

I'm a bit of a political junkie. I have a particular fondness for Presidential elections and I really like debates. So I was very disappointed to learn that I missed the first debate of the 2012 election last night. 

If you also missed the New Hampshire GOP debate, do not despair! You can view it in its entirety on the CNN website.  That's what I'll be doing as soon as I get home from work.

I'm also fascinated by the power of social media. Last night, we got a glimpse of the important role that Twitter and Facebook will play in the 2012 election. Debate moderators announced in advance that they would read relevant posts from Facebook and Twitter during the event. Mashable.com reported that at 9pm the hashtag #CNNDebate was the top trending topic worldwide on Twitter, appearing in 1.5% of tweets. In Twitter-land, that's a staggering proportion.

Users were live-tweeting the debate, adding to the conversations their own thoughts, opinions, and questions. A few high-profile Twitter users such as [CNN] journalist Anderson Cooper were even tweeting behind-the-scenes pictures and videos from the debate hall. [Read the full story: How the GOP Debate Exploded on Twitter]

Since I missed the debate, I'll be turning to Project VoteSmart, www.votesmart.org/, to find out where the candidates stand on issues important to me. Project VoteSmart is an outstanding, robust source of non-partisan information on candidates and issues.  I can even take a short quiz about my own stand on issues and be matched with the candidate most like me.

2012 election season is here, folks. Let the fun begin!