Advertising Age magazine looks at the possible impact of YouTube on the 2008 presidential election. They're also running a poll on the same topic.
Not since the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960, when TV made its grand entrance into politics, has a medium shown such potential to affect the outcome of a presidential race.
Granted, it's unlikely any of the candidates will have such a shining Kennedy-esque moment on YouTube that he or she will run off with the race, but the inverse is certainly possible. As Joe Trippi, head of Trippi & Associates and now in the employ of the John Edwards campaign, put it: "When you look back at 2008, you will also see the candidate who was riding high until the person with the cellphone caught them doing something or saying something and put it up on YouTube."
You could argue that's already happened. It wasn't just George Allen's Senate re-election bid that was derailed when his "macaca" remark was captured on tape and unleashed upon the web. Up until that point, he'd also intended to make a run for the White House.
Multi-edged sword
Since then, campaigns have been trying to get a handle on YouTube, a tool that can be a politician's best friend or worst enemy -- able to showcase opponents' flaws, deliver new mixes of politainment and offer the prospect of pitches longer than 30 seconds.
"It's becoming an important factor," said Tad Devine, who was a senior strategist for John Kerry's presidential race. He said the Allen incident led to a realization that YouTube is "hovering there" waiting for the wrong moment to be captured.
Thomas E. Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said YouTube may make candidates much more careful about what they do and say. "There are no more out-of-town runs to campaign before small groups and try out speeches and make mistakes," he said. "Wherever they go, someone will have a camera on them at all times."
Ad Age is also running a poll on this question: Will YouTube make a difference in the upcoming presidential election result? You can vote at http://adage.com/poll?poll_id
Comment Preview