PRINTViral politics
Campaigns get an online boost
March 6, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
On the night the New Hampshire primary debate ended, Will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas knew for the first time which candidate would have his vote. He called his friends immediately. Two days later, his impulsive artistic instinct came to fruition in “Yes We Can,” a Barack Obama endorsement video featuring actors and musicians singing words from Obama’s speeches. The video streamed live on YouTube a few days before Super Tuesday, and so far, it has received more than 10 million views.
In just one year, YouTube has attained the status of being the friend of a friend for presidential hopefuls. Barry Burden, an American politics professor at the University of Wisconsin, believes in YouTube’s potential to persuade voters but says viewers will be skeptical. “It depends whether the person trusts what is being passed along to them by e-mail, Facebook or word-of-mouth,” he says. “If they trust the source, that magnifies its impact.”
Maybe that explains why the candidates’ official YouTube videos have so many hits.
Hillary Clinton
With more than 600,000 hits, Senator Clinton’s most-viewed clip is her plea to America for advice on what her campaign song should be. Her second most- watched video is a music mockumentary.
Mike Huckabee
Former Gov. Huckabee’s most-viewed title is “HuckChuckFacts” with more than 1.5 million views. In it, Chuck Norris and Huckabee go back and forth on relevant and irrelevant topics about each other.
John McCain
Senator McCain’s most viewed item, “Straight Talk,” shows him inviting Americans to join in conversation with him as he travels around the country collecting votes. The video has more than 300,000 views.
Barack Obama
Senator Obama’s response to Bush’s final State of the Union address is his most widely seen video with nearly 1.3 million hits. It comes in second overall to “HuckChuckFacts.”
