Presidential Debate 2 Hofstra Univ
Hofstra University, Village of HempsteadN.Y., the host for Tuesday night's second U.S. presidential debate. Reuters

Will 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney continue his dominant debate performance against President Barack Obama in the second showdown between the candidates? Will Obama shake off the rust and be more aggressive tonight? The only way to find out is to watch via free live stream if you won’t be near a TV.

The Internet has a plethora of live streaming options to watch the second presidential debate, which kicks off at 9 p.m. EDT from Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. For more on where to watch via live stream, see below.

The second presidential debate will be different from the first face-off between Obama and Romney, both in style and substance. While the first debate on Oct. 3 at the University of Denver focused on domestic issues, the second debate tonight from Long Island will concentrate on both foreign and domestic issues.

But that’s not the only difference. Tonight’s debate will be a town hall-style format, with questions coming from undecided voters chosen by the Gallup Organization. CNN’s Candy Crowley’s role as moderator will be to facilitate the discussion, not to ask questions.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan body that sets the rules for the contests, describes the format of the second presidential debate on its website:

“The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.”

Now on to live stream.

YouTube’s Politics Hub will be broadcasting the debate via live stream at this link here, with coverage starting at 9 p.m. EDT.

Those who want pre-debate commentary on the Internet won't be left out, courtesy of Politico. The politics website’s coverage begins at 8 p.m. EDT with analysis from Politico reporters. Check out Politico’s stream here.

For a more interactive experience, the Washington Post is streaming the second presidential debate here, with Post reporters performing live fact-checking. Debate watchers can weigh in by leaving comments on the site.

Also boasting interactive features is Microsoft, which is streaming the debate for Xbox 360 owners. Those with an Xbox 360 console can watch the debate on their gaming system and take part in an interactive poll. Check out this link to get ready for tonight’s debate.

Livestream.com is another option for watching the debate online. You can find the link here, with coverage beginning at 9 p.m.

The debate commission is also providing voters with live stream through AOL, YouTube and Yahoo.

Television networks are providing live stream coverage. CBS has debate coverage online here, C-SPAN’s can be found here (coverage starts at 7 p.m. EDT,) Fox News’ live stream is here and Univision’s live stream is here.

Barack obama Streaming