Press release after the jump.

(Image via ABC)

ABC News and Facebook Partner to Foster Ongoing Debate and Deliver Political Content for 2008 Election

* ABC News and Facebook have launched a partnership focused on the 2008 presidential election. In this first of its kind collaboration, Facebook will feature an application that will provide its 56 million active users with tools for supporting candidates and discussing the campaign on Facebook combined with ABC News political content and information, including the latest news from the campaign trail.

* ABC News' political content will be made available within Facebook and presented in the Facebook look and feel in order for users to consume ABC News content the same way they would share any other information on Facebook.

* By harnessing the viral influence of Facebook and the vast editorial resources of ABC News, the collaboration will establish a forum on Facebook that will engage users throughout the 2008 presidential election.

* The ABC News/Facebook partnership includes:
+ Debate Groups -- an area of the US Politics application where Facebook users can take a stand and discuss their views on the campaign'S key issues, including before and after planned Democratic and Republican Presidential candidate debates
+ Up-to-the-minute political news and video from the campaign trail reported by the ABC News political team
+ Dispatches from ABC News reporters assigned to the candidates
+ Facebook/ABC News Pulses, online surveys that feature results of polls conducted with users

* Through Debate Groups, Facebook users will be able to engage other users and the candidates -- who all have Facebook profiles – on the campaign's key issues. Facebook will join ABC News and WMUR-TV in hosting back-to-back Democratic and Republican Presidential candidate debates in New Hampshire in the critical run-up to that state's primary. Both before and after the debates, users will be able to participate in Debate Groups, providing a companion to the televised debates.

* ABC News' up-to-the minute political news and video will be located on the Facebook US Politics application. The viral nature of Facebook will put ABC News at the fingertips of an engaged and expanding political audience. Facebook users can add this application to their profile and:

+ support candidates
+ access candidate profiles
+ interact with ABC News content directly on Facebook and share the content with their friends
+ view updated Facebook supporter counts and ABC News Poll results

* The ABC News reporters assigned to the candidates will file frequent dispatches from their posts on the trail. Whether at a major speech or waiting to board yet another campaign plane, ABC News reporters will take Facebook users through the daily ups and downs of Presidential campaigns. The dispatches will be posted to their reporter profiles - which users can subscribe to.

* In the Pulses section, ABC News and Facebook will conduct frequent online polls to gauge users’ responses to the campaign's hot-button issues.