This is America’s first YouTube election. Since the Orwellian anti-Hillary advert Vote Different appeared online in March 2007, the site has become a vibrant new political battleground, where candidates’ images are cheerfully reshaped via spoofs, sketches and songs. Ideas, not campaign dollars, are the crucial currency. One major downside to this innovation if you’re a presidential candidate: your every gaffe will be recorded, remixed and rewatched for months to come. One upside: you don’t have to generate your own campaign songs any more.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/19/youtube.uselections2008
Viral warfare: YouTube battleground for the US election
YouTube is the entertainment battleground for the US election. From stars to amateurs, thousands of campaigners have posted songs backing the candidates. So who is in tune with who? Dorian Lynskey reports for The Guardian.