Citizen media, yet another example of why I love thee: a genius parody of the Obama Yes We Can video, this one featuring John McCain.
Call me emotionally stunted, but while the original sends a shiver down the spine in a couple of places, the fundamental insincerity of the McCain version suits my style so much better.
Early this morning, Sen. Barack Obama sent the first of three text messages to supporters who’ve signed up to his messaging program and live in the D.C. area. It’s a jam-packed message, starting out with an Obama quote, then asking supporters to forward the text to their friends. Most importantly, the text provides an 866 number to call to find your polling location. All you’d have to do is click on the number on your cellphone to make the free call.
Jose has detail about the campaign’s ability to target messages by zip code, and also about how quiet they’re being about the size of their list and its response rate. Texting for turnout isn’t an original idea, but this campaign seems focused on implementing it well — a part of the campaign that future online political professionals will look to as a model?
Maybe nobody else thinks this is interesting, but to me it’s fun to realize that as I write this, I’m mixing the oldest and newest widely adopted wireless communications media: radio and wifi. I’m a-sittin’ in my chair, pulling the ‘net from a wireless hub hooked to a cable modem while also listening to WAMU radio’s live election coverage. I could stream the NPR station over the ‘net, but it’s easier to listen to if it’s on in the background. And for live local coverage, Kojo, Jonetta and the gang are fun as hell and also happen know a whole lot about local politics, so you can learn a ton. I’m going to check out the Post’s live online coverage in a bit; they seem to have poured a lot of resources into it. Anyway, thanks Mr. Marconi, for the wireless. Update: The Post thing is basically TV on the web; if you like TV news coverage hosted by print journalists, you’re their demographic.
