The You Tube Election

Now everyone can be a campaign media advisor.

With a high-speed Internet connection, some awesome editing software, and innate creativity, anyone can now make their mark on this campaign cycle by jumping on the YouTube bandwagon.

The big Internet-related story this week was the YouTube video: "I Got a Crush...On Obama." Where, as the Washington Post reports, a "leggy and curvy Obama girl," states her, well...crush on Obama.

A couple of months ago, the big YouTube political video was the metamorphosis of Apple's famous 1984 ad introducing the Mac, into an anti-Hillary video, using one of the Hillary-as-Establishment, and anti-establishment themes that are going around. This attack is mainly orchestrated by the liberal wing of the Democratic Primary, even though, as my previous post finds, Hillary is leading the liberal wing of the Democratic Primary, according to polls.

The campaigns don't know how receptive to be to these new, free, media created for them. While some might help them among YouTube and other Internet aficionados, it hasn't been made clear just how many people this will turn out for them. They don't want a rehash of Howard Dean's early Internet propelling that took place in the summer of 2004, to see it fizzle out by Iowa and being written about in a post-mortem attitude by New Hampshire. Also, when these ads go too far--which inevitably will be the case--campaigns won't want to be associated with them. Remember the Swift Votes ads and the Bush campaign moving away from them--while placidly condoning them--in 2004. Campaigns won't want to be struggling with "independent contractors" for the message. They want to control the message.

But until one can figure out what effect, if any, these ads will have on the campaigns, at least they're pretty fun to watch.