Daily Digest: 3/20/07

The Web on the Candidates

• A commenter on Jeff Jarvis' Buzzmachine says that "there's a big elephant in the room on viral video for politics," which is that has more political advertising (and eyeballs) end up on YouTube, local broadcast stations will lose their most cherished sources of funding, similar to the way Craigslist has challenged newspapers' classified ads model.  The dominant advertising mode is still be TV, Jarvis writes, but it won't be forever: "All political advertising won’t migrate online yet because the audience on broadcast is bigger and campaigns are inherently conservative. But there will be a point of no return."   
• James Kotecki's new video takes a look at the most popular videos on YouTube that feature politicians doing or saying something stupid.  He isn't sure that, in the end, these assorted "macaca" moments will ultimately affect the race, since the more we record candidates' every move, the more likely it they'll get caught making gaffes.  Kotecki ends with a sorta-funny montage of his own "gaffes."
• In a clever take on the IED's that threaten troops in Iraq, Patricia Murphy of The America Interest writes that YouTube is the IED -- the Internet Explosive Device -- of  2008 politics.  "There’s Rudy Giuliani’s drag-clad encounter with Donald Trump, complete with the Donald’s nose in 'Ms.' Giuliani’s décolletage. There’s John Edwards straining to peer into a palm-sized mirror to determine if his hair will hold properly with the hair spray just applied by a staffer. Of course, there’s the now-infamous 1984 spot painting Hillary Clinton as an Orwellian dictator."  As the campaigns fortify themselves to do battle in 2008, they are under siege by improvised, nonprofessionals attacks.  "Like the Army of today, they cannot prepare for what they cannot predict and will not be able to respond to enemies without identities. The surprise attacks, the IED’s for their campaigns, will be imbedded in YouTube." (via eyeon08) 

The Candidates on the Web

• Are there any social networking sites that John Edwards is not a part of? He's signed up in at least 23 social networking sites, or "socnets," writes the Washington Post's Jose Antonion Vargas, and while Barack Obama may be the most popular candidate online, "Edwards arguably has the most dynamic Web presence -- he's everywhere, doing everything."   TechPresident's David All and Ruby Sinreich both make an appearance in the article.   David calls Edwards' approach "'the throwing-spaghetti-on-the-wall' strategy. Try what you can. See what sticks," and Ruby sees these sites as ways of building genuine human connections.  "Look, voters are swayed by the people they know. That's not new. That's not about technology. But what we have now is a new technology that is all about building relationships," she says.
• Bill Richardson had a good-natured appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart this week, and it's featured on his home page with a photograph of the night, though you have to click to get to the video.  Below the video is the text, "Let us know what you think of Governor Richardson's appearance," followed by a form to input your name, email, address, phone number, and your comment.  Why not give viewers the chance to comment below the video, as Tom Vilsack had done on his home page.  The comment form doesn't give anyone a sense that other people are commenting too, and they have no chance to read other comments. Small steps like these could go a long way. 

In Case You Missed It...

McCain's Straight-Talk Express takes a turn in the blogosphere
Is John McCain actually starting to "get it?" David All would argue so. At least the evidence is starting to look that way.

New From The NRCC: TheRealDemocratStory.com
Mike Turk isn't normally a big fan of microsites. He tends to look at online
efforts as a marketing campaign, rather than a communications tool. His
problem with microsites in that context is they distance themselves
from your branding rather than extending it, but he likes the new NRCC site.