Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

Chicago Trib columnist Clarence Page doesn't think the new media has changed "the game" in politics and media (see previous post), but Google knows otherwise. And, comparing their relative market caps, I'm going with Google on this one. Here's the latest game-changing news from Google via the Los Angeles Times...

As the 2008 presidential campaign gets rolling, Google Inc. wants to be every candidate's running mate. That was clear early one morning this month, when about 80 bleary-eyed political and advocacy group consultants crowded into a college lecture hall here and listened intently to campaign tips from an unlikely source: three guys from Google.

The trio, including the head of the company's newly formed political sales team, conducted an hourlong seminar about maximizing Google's products for political purposes, including what videos resonate on YouTube and how to propel websites up the search engine rankings.

"They're more keen to the desires and the needs of the political campaigns," Eric Anderson, online marketing director for the Republican National Committee, said after attending the company's seminar.

Google's acquisition of YouTube last fall thrust the famously "content neutral" Web giant headlong into the partisan world. And its competitors, including Yahoo Inc. and NewsCorp.'s MySpace, are hot after the same market.

YouTube had already shown its effectiveness last summer, after it helped torpedo the reelection campaign of Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who was videotaped using a word perceived as a racial slur to refer to a man of Indian descent who worked for his opponent. And last week YouTube demonstrated its power again when it set the political world buzzing with a spoof of a famous Apple Inc. ad featuring a Barack Obama supporter heaving a sledgehammer into a video image of Hillary Clinton.

 YouTube isn't the only reason Google is reaching out to campaigns, but it helped accelerate the process, said Elliot Schrage, the company's vice president of global communications and public affairs. "I think the difference is we are now recognizing that this is a segment that we have to pay attention to in a way that we hadn't," he said.

The LAT provides a list of some of the more politically noteworthy recent YouTube vids:

YouTube video of anti-Hillary Clinton "1984" campaign ad

YouTube video of John Edwards combing his hair

YouTube video of Hillary Clinton singing the national anthem

YouTube video of anti-Mitt Romney campaign ad

YouTube video of Mitt Romney's response

YouTube video of George Allen saying "macaca"