WASHINGTON, US - THE White House made another leap into the New Media age on Tuesday, 'live-blogging' a speech by President Barack Obama.

The White House website, whitehouse.gov, carried a real-time running account of Mr Obama's town hall speech in Fort Myers, Florida, mixing in blogger commentary with the president's remarks and questions from the audience.

The following are some of the entries on the White House live blog at whitehouse.gov/blog-post/ft-myers-FL/ Mr Obama's remarks are in quotes.

- 12:25 pm: 'Not just make-work jobs,' he adds, but rather jobs that lay the groundwork for a stronger economic future. (Blogger) Point: this isn't just a short-term thing.

- 12:30 pm: (Blogger) A moment of candor: 'No plan is perfect. I can't tell you with one hundred percent certainty that everything in this plan will work exactly as we hope.' But, that said, 'doing nothing is not an option - you didn't send me to Washington to do nothing.'

- 12:55 pm: (Blogger) President pauses the Q&A to announce some breaking news: the Senate has passed the (economic stimulus plan). And there was much rejoicing.

- 12:58 pm: (Blogger) A woman in the crowd asks for assistance, President embraces her.

The first 'live-blog' by the White House came a day after Mr Obama held his first full-scale press conference and invited a website reporter, Sam Stein of The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com), to ask a question.

Mr Obama also called on 88-year-old correspondent Helen Thomas, who has been covering the White House since John F. Kennedy was president.

'All right, Helen. This is my inaugural moment here. I'm really excited,' Mr Obama said as he invited Ms Thomas to ask a question.

Mr Stein asked Obama whether he would support an investigation of 'misdeeds' by Bush administration officials.

Ms Thomas asked whether any Middle Eastern countries had nuclear weapons and if Pakistan is providing safe havens in Afghanistan to 'so-called terrorists'. -AFP