First post! (Be gentle...) I couldn't resist responding to the Edwards comments.... But I promise there's some material about videoblogging in here.
Edwards gives a great stump speech. Don't write him off if you haven't seen him speak. Also, the new primary schedule is said to favor Edwards -- he's strong in Nevada, and should do well in the South (his home territory). > The fundamental question I have is how he'd > handle another Rove-run campaign. Rove said he'd retired before the 2008 campaign. Even then, the Rove-led campaigns only won by 400 votes in Florida in 2000, and 100,000 in Ohio in 2004. (And the incumbent is always expected to win re-election except in times of national crisis.) > It's a simple fact that anyone facing a Rove-assisted > politician will face an echo chamber. The "echo chamber" is powerful - but I think it's equally effective against new and old candidates. Also, that "echo chamber" effect didn't help in the 2006 elections. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's power is weakening; or it doesn't work when there are legitimate widespread grievances; or maybe online activism has just grown enough to counter it. The key issue in November was said to be Iraq, which could still be a key issue in 2008. I'd love to see some videoblogging from Iraq, or even the Middle East. Even some college kid's summer vacation.... > four years, giving his enemies plenty of time and opportunity to find all his weak spots. Not necessarily. It's possible to talk about the same topics to different groups of people for four years (without revealing any weak spots). And for that matter, you build up support over the four years. Would it really be better to have a candidate who hadn't been on the trail for four years, simply because this stealthiness robs the opponent of potential attacks? > Imagine if instead every registered voter got an > official campaign DVD The same videos could be uploaded to YouTube. (Most campaign ads were uploaded to YouTube during November's campaign.) Maybe in 2008 candidates will consider videos produced specifically for the web. (Unless they're afraid this will give too many specifics on their positions to their opponents.) But it does seem like there's an opportunity there for videobloggers - especially during the primaries - to pester as many candidates as they can for an interview. (Or do what Hunter S. Thompson did - pick one candidate you like, and follow him everywhere.) We've already seen Firedoglake following the Joe Lieberman campaign. (Or were they just posting video footage shot by other people?) And the media tends to forget that the "Macaca" comment was directed at someone who'd been videotaping Senator Allen's appearances. I think the Mark Foley scandal is just proof that politicians are used to working in the insulated world of D.C., and haven't grasped how many new information outlets there are. That create an opportunity for videobloggers - if they can just come up with a vision for what they want to accomplish. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
