Kevin Ducoff

       Election 2008, as I previously noted, was remarkable for being the first truly 21^st century campaign. Today, I’ll give you my take to how the media was involved in that. Such a discussion should begin with CNN.

             No channel contributed more in terms of raw, state of the art technology than they did. Nearly anyone with a passing interest in politics now recognizes the ridiculously awesome touch screen electoral map that served as the political equivalent of a play-by-play. On election night, they showed off a hologram machine that transmits the person’s actual image in real time to the newsroom, using multiple cameras to beam in correspondents and Will.i.am. And I though R2-D2 had the holographic market covered (help me Wolf Blitzer, you’re my only hope!). Their website was also the most comprhensive for raw data. Where users could get real time updates in nearly any race nationwide up to the country and municipal level. One wishes the actual correspondents were substantive, but no one really expects that anymore.

              CNN, and other networks globally, provided a level of coverage previously unheard of. It should not surprise anyone that results were real time broadcasted worldwide. People from Baltimore to Bangkok to Baghdad were avid and dedicated viewers to the historic election. And such attention had a genuine effect on voters. With increased coverage came significantly increased viewership and readership. Blogs like ours at RealPolitix, and news sites such as the Drudge Report, Huffington Post, Washington Post, NYTimes, and of course CNN, recieved enourmous numbers of visitors. Estimated voter turnout was somewhere in the ballpark of 63%. Black and youth turnout each had increases in the millions of voters in states battleground and not.

            One can also not discount parody news for increasing interest and action. The Daily Show and the Colbert Report (among my favorite things on planet Earth), as well as The Onion brought youth interest way up. That some of those youth (which I am still a part of), might actually followed up such amusement with voting is something even I didn’t believe could really happen. I have little doubt that this was what gave Obama the Democratic nod, and nudged him into the Oval Office.

  People, including (and especially me), tend to deride the modern 24-hour newscycle. Yet, at least based on initial data collected since the election a few weeks ago, it may really have increased turnout for both parties. We can only hope the trend continues. President-elect Obama should remember to thank the media one of these days (even O’Reilly and the other family friendly faces at Fox News), they might have just done him a huge favor.

PS: Watch the Onion.com’s video of Bush Pardons Scooter Libby in Giant Turkey Costume, you’ll thank me.

Note: To start everything off, I want to apologize for once again putting long hiatuses between articles. Frankly, midterms overwhelmed me and that had to take priority. Then I got sick, twice, in a three-week period. Things have not exactly worked greatly lately. I probably will not commit to subjects or dates for putting out articles, it just isn’t realistic. However, at the moment my workload has decreased significantly, and I think it should be possible to at least put out an article week. I am also looking at starting a blog on foreign policy and national security, but I won’t let that get in the way of this blog. Now that all of that is out of the way, let’s get to the actually interesting stuff (I hope).

So, election 2008 has finally ended, and the roar of battle is (temporarily) quieted, I am going to take a look at the aftermath of what I consider to be the first truly 21^st century campaign. Technology, and specifically the Internet, played a huge role in President-elect Barack Obama’s victories in both the Democratic primaries and the general election.

There is no doubt that many outside factors played a role as well. The President (43) was already massively unpopular, seeing the worst financial meltdown since the great depression didn’t help.  The inept response by House Republicans made the situation for Republicans, including Senator McCain, much worse. John McCain also made a number of risky choices that he felt were necessary to have a shot at winning. His selection of running mate Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, and his decision to suspend his campaign to work on a bailout bill, in retrospect (and for me personally, clear as they happened) didn’t work well at all. Frankly, no one expected the race to be close, and McCain did as well as one could in the circumstances he faced. One can speculate endlessly as to whether the McCain that we saw in 2000 and 2004 would have made the race turn out any different, but the fact is that he was simply caught in a tidal wave of significant proportion.

However, even in such a scenario, it takes real effort to turn public anger into turnout in the polling booth. Obama, beyond his obvious skills, had an Internet operation that redefined the use of the net in politics globally. If you don’t believe me, look at articles about the website for Israeli prime ministerial candidate Benjamin Netanyahu, it’ll make it pretty clear, pretty fast. He had what was essentially his own Facebook, and a website that looked and functioned a lot better than a lot of movie official websites, which have a much greater range of resources.  

Hell, he even had an iPhone app that allowed you to solicit for fundraising and read his latest activities and policies directly from your phone (well, at least my phone, which is indeed an iPhone).

It wasn’t just propaganda that was distributed over the web, but also voter turnout operations. For the week leading up to the election, I got multiple e-mails from the campaign to remember to turn out and to assist in turning out other people. Obama’s vote for change website filled out a registration form to vote. Simply put, every corner was covered.

In my next post, I’m going to take a look at the Media’s use of the net and its HUGE role in this election cycle.

Anyone who has been following this election for a while knows the role that parody and comedy has played in it. Saturday Night Live, in particular, with its amusing portrayals of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin has significantly affected the views of those who have viewed the caricatures. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have practically made their careers on skewering politicians and changing the daily political discourse.

Unfortunately, a darker side of technology, and e-journalism in particular, the dreaded chain e-mail, has also changed perceptions of Obama for the worse. In these e-mails, conservative hack jobs posing as journalists post awful rumors calling Obama a closet Muslim, a terrorist, or a rabid Israel-hater who seeks to ruin the Jewish state. Whether he is a Muslim or not is irrelevant to me, we have freedom of religion in this country for a reason, I care about the person. Unfortunately, older voters grew up with perception of black people like Louis Farrakhan. These voters, typically lifelong Democrats, could potentially put the crucial state of Florida in jeopardy should they defect en masse to McCain.

These worries have lead the group Jews Vote to launch The Great Schlep. The goal of the initiative is to have younger Jews, who have shown stronger support for Obama, to visit their elderly Jewish grandparents in Florida and convince them to vote Obama. At the Great Schlep website, Sarah Silverman stars in a video to encourage fellow young Jews into action. In typical Sarah Silverman fashion, an irreverent, potentially offensive, always funny video provides a primer on the goal of the Great Schlep and to recruit followers to the cause. If you haven’t seen the video yet, I highly recommend you check it out. If you want to be bored, you can also check out a response by the Republican Jewish Coalition starring Jackie Mason.

For many reasons, this issue of Jews in Florida and other areas of the country may no longer be the issue. McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin, a rabid evangelical, has driven more soft Democratic Jewish voters to doubt McCain. Conversely, Obama’s selection of Joe Biden has reassured many Jewish voters who questioned Obama’s commitment to Israel. Further, with the economic crisis in full swing, Obama has taken leads in many other states that compensate and then some for Florida’s coveted electoral votes, as well as in the Sunshine State itself. Nonetheless, even though Obama might lead now, anything can happen, and every vote matters. Thus I fully support the efforts of Sarah Silverman’s Great Schlep. So, to my fellow Jews, get your ass in gear!

P.S.

You don’t need to go to Florida to help. Phone calls, e-mails, etc. can all have the same impact in convincing skeptics of all kinds. So don’t be lazy (like me), and help make sure your candidate of choice prevails on November 4_th.

Next time: Deconstructing Judge!

I know it’s been awhile since these pages have been privileged enough to carry my words. Just as election season decided to heat up, I found myself inundated by school. However, that’s not an excuse, and I apologize to those who should rightly expect more. As we enter the last 3 weeks of campaigning, I intend to make up for it in earnest. Though I don’t have a new article ready today, I have created a schedule of sorts that will allow you to get an idea of where I intend to go from now until election day and a tad past that. And without further ado:

-Topics and Dates Schedule to Change-

Week of 10/14 (This Week): The Great Schlep: The Jewish Vote goes Online!

Week of 10/21: Deconstructing Drudge: Why Matt Drudge controls the World

Week of 10/28: Punditry in Real Time: Debates go Viral

Week of 11/4 (Election Day): 11/3: Idiot’s guide: How to survive Election Day (and Night)

11/4: Periodic Election Day Updates and Coverage

11/7: Aftermath of Election ‘08

Article Series: Political Chess: Video Games go Washington

Week of 11/11: The Political Glitch in Video Games

Week of 11/18: Mario goes to court: Video Games come to the Capitol

Week of 11/25: Thanksgiving Break (No Updates)

Week of 12/1: Games for Pundits: Political Video Games that Kick Ass*

Week of 12/8: Mainstream Games with a Political Twist*

*= December article dates are tentative and subject to my Final Exam Schedule

Like I said, no more leaving my beloved (and remote) fan base in the lurch. Look for my first new article at the end of this week (i.e. look for it Friday or Saturday). From next week on the date will usually be Tuesday. Look forward to it! 

As of Monday, the country realized that we are perhaps in the worst fiscal crisis in our generation.

Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch was forced to sell itself to Bank of America for significantly below its standard exchange rate. American Investment Group, or AIG, another major investment bank, revealed that it was requesting a government bailout. This was combined with Hurricane Ike. Ike, a just shy of Category 3 behemoth, hit my hometown of Houston, Texas. Houston is the nations 4th largest city and home to nearly a quarter of the national profit in our energy sector. These revelations combined caused the Dow to plunge 500 points on Monday, the worst drop recorded since the reopening of the market following the attacks of September 11, 2001. This follows last week’s move from the Bush Administration to take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, public-private entities that combined guarantee or own nearly half of all mortgages in the US, totaling a staggering $12 trillion, due to the near collapse of the companies.

With these actions, the fundamental shape of campaign 2008 is now officially in flux. The economy, already the top issue for voters, will now have a stranglehold on the last 50 days or so left in the campaign.

The question you may be asking is, why the hell does this factor into the intersection of technology and politics. Now, more so than ever, technology lets us see disasters occur in real time no matter where you are. We can track the stock exchange, and we saw live the battering of Ike; satellites confirmed Ike’s movements towards the Texas coast.

So, too, was the reaction of those seeking to lead our troubled nation able to be seen in real time. You Tube allowed us to see Republican Presidential Nominee Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) response.

To show us just how flawed his reasoning was, we were able to comapre his words to those of Alan Greenspan, arguably our nation’s most impressive economic mind.

Technology is, at a minimum, allowing us to see our financial market collapse in real time. It also is allowing us to see how those who aspire to lead us believe we should be moving from here.

Former Economic Adviser to McCain, Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX)

Democratic VP Nominee Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)

Democratic Presidential Nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)

Never before have we truly gotten to see in such detail where we are, where we might go, and how we are going to get there.

I end today with an editorial message: People were shocked at how quickly this crisis came about, yet every sign was there. Before Freddie and Fannie, Lehman, and Merrill, we saw the collapse of Bear Stearns, and the near collapse of Citigroup. We stand in a war of (unwise) choice costing us billions a month funded on poorly thought out tax cuts. Our dollar is weaker now than at any point in modern history. It was plain for the eye to see this coming. If we don’t take action, if we elect those who hold a near identical worldview, America will truly be able to say its best days are behind it. America, wake up.

It’s amazing what Google can do, isn’t it? I can find a picture of a washed up pop star (Britney Spears), the website for an obscure pop star (Britney Spears), or I can find my preferred Vice Presidential running mate (Britney Spears?). I can also learn their most hidden secrets (like Brittney Spears!).

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK and a member of Obama’s VP Vetting Team, acknowledged in the midst of the vetting process search engines like Google made the vetting process go much easier and faster. That’s right people, Obama chose Joe Biden because he had the best number of Google hits. Evan Bayh? Screw him, all that comes up are references to his dad. (Birch Bayh. Look him up.)

Simply, say using the same handy Internet search engine, can prove troublesome for potential VP’s (*cough* Sarah Palin *cough*). If McCain’s VP vetting team had simply Googled Palin, Sarah, they would have found that she was to the far right of their nominee, or how she actually supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she went against it, or the fact that she fired a state trooper for breaking up with her sister in law. They might also learned that despite the proximity, Sarah Palin is as clueless about Russia (but it’s so close to Alaska!) as she is about the job of Vice President.

When I interned at a Democratic fundraising outfit, my boss gave me sound advice: “Our job is to get accurate information so we can stalk someone until we get some money, and then we go and do it again to get some more. The same is true of news. Reporters have deadlines to meet, just as fundraisers have set fundraising goals per quarter. Google makes their job easier, and when they publish, it makes sure that their message is read, deciphered, and spread across the globe.

Take for instance, Sarah Palin’s eldest daughter, and the story of how at 17, she’s pregnant. As soon as the media learned it, places like Google ensured that everyone knew within minutes of the report. Google then allowed us to learn that Gov. Palin, during her run for governor, was asked about what she would do if this exact scenario happened.

Google is a force to be reckoned with, and I have learned to love it as almost as much as I love Republican bashing. Almost.

If there is one thing that’s different about election 2008, it’s that a woman and a black man were my party’s main contenders. If there are two things, however, the second would have to be the true advent of social networking and internet based communication in the election. Unsurprisingly to me, it’s the candidate of youth, Barack Obama, who has from day one had a website that reflected this dynamic more than either Hillary Clinton or John McCain.

People forget that Obama announced the formation of his presidential exploratory committee via a video message e-mailed to his supporters. His website features almost every major appearance he’s made in video and text format. His campaign blog features real time updates from the campaign trail. He also managed to create a social networking system with the breadth and success of facebook, now adorably called myBO. This is in addition to the fact that his website is slick, modern, and absurdly user friendly for the undecided voter.

He recently launched a mobile website for users on the go, featuring wallpapers, ringtones (Yes We Can!, anyone?), news, videos, and the option to get e-mailed whitepapers (see: policy papers) from your phone. This is in addition to the ridiculous number of text messages his campaign sends out weekly. The biggest text being, of course, the VP Text Message.

It’s weird to be at the forefront of history. Can anyone imagine what the history books will say about Obama’s VP announcement. I personally am going to go with “The Text Message Heard ‘Round the World” (let me know if you have a better one in mind). With one announcement, Pbama placed more media frenzy on the VP pick than I thought could be possible. Some will inevitably say it was a letdown, either because it was Biden, or because the media leaked it early, or hell, because they don’t what the hell a text message is. Yet for two weeks, Obama brought his choice to a fever pitch, significantly boosting the coverage of his choice, my man, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. McCain’s campaign, on the other hand, is currently relegated to second tier coverage as they come on the eve of McCain’s running mate choice.

I know I got my text, and I hope you got yours. With the Democratic National Convention on the eve of completion and the Republican Convention on the horizon, I know this is going to be a fun year to follow the race for the White House.