The Washington Times says McCain is stomping Obama in YouTube views. It’s called the Paris Hilton Gambit:
Paris Hilton may think John McCain is just a “wrinkly white-haired guy,” but the Republican presidential candidate apparently has figured out the younger generation just fine. Over the past two weeks, his “celebrity” attacks have stomped Democratic presidential opponent Sen. Barack Obama in YouTube hits.
Mr. McCain has pumped out a series of brutal yet entertaining attack ads and Web videos mocking the press and Mr. Obama, and the combination of wit and insult has pushed his YouTube channel to the sixth most watched on the site this week. Mr. McCain has beat Mr. Obama’s channel for seven straight days and 11 of the past 14 days, in a signal he intends to compete for the YouTube vote.
That is a giant reversal. Mr. Obama had been quadrupling Mr. McCain’s YouTube views and beat him every day since February, according to TubeMogul, which tracks online video viewing.
YouTube’s CitizenTube and the National Journal held an event in Washington with loads of luminaries from the campaign and internet worlds: videos at the CitizenTube blog and interviews here.
Google, YouTube, and various New Orleans pols and universities invite the candidates — whoever they are — to the Smaller Easy for a presidential forum in September.
The New York Times’ Brian Stelter reports today on the importance of young voters passing around links — especially videos — not just consumers but conduits of campaign news.
Rather than treating video-sharing Web sites as traditional news sources, young people use them as tools and act as editors themselves.
“We’re talking about a generation that doesn’t just like seeing the video in addition to the story — they expect it,” said Danny Shea, 23, the associate media editor for The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com). “And they’ll find it elsewhere if you don’t give it to them, and then that’s the link that’s going to be passed around over e-mail and instant message.”
Mike Gravel complains directly to YouTube political editor Steve Grove about taking him — and Ron Paul — off the YouTube/YouChoose page. According to YouTube, it’s now a three-way race. But how can we forget the comic relief?
Barack Obama stars in a music video, sort of. will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas and Jesse Dylan, Bob Dylan’s son, brought together a bunch of celebs — Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Adam Rodriquez, Amber Valetta, Nick Cannon — to cover Obama’s New Hampshire primary speech.
Here’s Ari Melber’s report on the video and here’s ABCNews.com’s:
It was inspired, will.i.am told ABC’s Alisha Davis, by Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and in particular by the speech he has gave after the New Hampshire primary.
“It made me reflect on the freedoms I have, going to school where I went to school, and the people that came before Obama like Martin Luther King, presidents like Abraham Lincoln that paved the way for me to be sitting here on ABCNews and making a song from Obama’s speech,” will.i.am said.
“The speech was inspiring about making change in America and I believe what it says and I hope everybody votes,” Dylan said.
Here’s the Viral Video Chart’s tracking of the video’s rise — 200,000 views in a day:
To me, this only underscores the notion that Obama’s campaign is the most rhetorical of the bunch: speeches and slogans so neat they can fit in 4/4 time.
YouTube is teaming up with the Des Moines Register to solicit caucus videos from Iowa voters. Here’s the pitch:
Share your opinions, campaign trail videos, interview other Iowan voters, or offer your predictions for what will take place in the most exciting caucus season in decades. Then on January 3rd, document your caucus experience and show the rest of the world what the Iowa caucuses are all about.”
Chris Dodd answers YouTubers’ questions and dares to go up against the real kingmaker in American politics.
Sound bite: “Most Iowans get a little offended by the idea that somehow I’m going to vote for you because you brought Oprah to town. I mean, that’s just a little offensive.. Or the idea that because my husband was the president that’s justification.”
Then Dodd plays a round of the new game, Constitutional Or Not?
Tax hater Grover Norquist asked the candidates to sign his no-tax pledge at the YouTube debate and here he gives his reaction, tweaking Fred Thompson for being refused and refusing to sign and then teasing John McCain for refusing to sign a pledge he signed back in 2000, “when he was a Regan Republican.” A brass Ronnie looks on approvingly.
Steve Grove of YouTube gives us a recap on the GOP debate. It was watched by 4.5 million people, setting a cable debate record and surpassing the Democratic YouTube debate by 2 million. Clips from the debate have been seen by 2.4 million people at YouTube in only a day.
Steve asks for feedback and here’s some. The Famous Stacie wonders, where’s Chuck Norris?
A guy with an unknown accent is depressed. Sound bite: “I’m so sorry for America. I’m sorry these guys exist. Really. I’m really sorry for you guys.”
This guy wonders: Is Tom Tancredo little Hitler, is Fred Thompson a little senile, and is Ron Paul a conspiracy nut? I still want to know: Where’s Chuck Norris?
In last night’s Republican debate, Mitt Romney said:
Every time I listen to someone like John Edwards get on TV and say there are two Americas, I just want to, I just want to throw something at the TV. Because there’re not two Americas, there’s one America.”
Last night’s Republican debate featured a question about gays in the military from Keith Kerr, a retired brigadier general who says he is gay. Shockingly, none of the candidates seemed to be in favor of changing the current “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. But for some reason Anderson Cooper decided to beat this dead horse, so he called on Kerr — who was in the audience — and Kerr restated the same question. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!. He got the same answer.
And that predictable exchange would have been lost in the debate shuffle except that it turns out the gay general has a Clinton connection. CNN explains:
Following the debate, CNN learned that Kerr was listed as a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans For Hillary Clinton Steering Committee.
CNN Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of the debate, David Bohrman, says, “We regret this, and apologize to the Republican candidates. We never would have used the General’s question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate.”
Prior to the debate, CNN had verified his military background and that he had not contributed any money to any presidential candidate.
Following the debate, Kerr told CNN that he’s done no work for the Clinton campaign. He says he is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans and was representing no one other than himself.”
MORE:
The Clinton campaign has posted a clip of General Kerr’s interview this morning on CNN. Kerr says that although he allowed his name to be listed by the Clinton committee, he has no role in the campaign and no one from the Clinton campaign has been in touch with him.
