The Role of Youtube in the 2006 Congressional Elections

In his New York Times article "The YouTube Election," Ryan Lizza looks at the role that YouTube had played up to August of 2006 in the 2006 Congressional Elections].

Pros-YouTube will force candidates for public office to stop being artificial, since there will be a camera rolling when their true selves come out anyway. Lets public hold elected officials accountable for what they say. Gives lesser known politicians a platform that they may never have had before.

Cons-Politicians will be more risk adverse than ever before. The death of spontaneity, where politicians are unable to test out their messages and get voter response. Politicians must be TV ready from day one. Things that should not be included in political discourse are all of a sudden included in political discourse.

Lizza points out two specific occasions in which YouTube has been used as a weapon by a candidate against his opponent.

1. George Allen, running for re-election to the Senate in Virginia, made a disparaging comment to a young staffer working for his opponent Jim Webb. Allen pointed to the person, who was of Indian descent, macaca, a racial slur. The person had the camera running the entire time and posted the clip on YouTube, where it garnered controversy and greatly contributed to Allen's defeat in the general election. Losing the Senate race also diminished Allen's status as a 2008 Presidential contender.

View what Allen's remark. Following the Allen moment, most campaigns now employ campaign trackers that go around to every event of their opponents and tape them speaking.

2. Ned Lamont's campaign, running for Democratic nomination for Senate in Connecticut against incumbent Joe Lieberman, coordinated with liberal bloggers to pump up Lamont and hurt Lieberman. Bloggers would post flattering interviews with the candidate while casting Lieberman in an unflattering light. The campaign hired a staffer to act as a liaison between the bloggers and video bloggers, being one of the first campaigns in a federal election to have a person on staff only working with bloggers. One of the campaign's big moves was advancing a photo of Lieberman and President Bush and trying to make the case that Lieberman was too close to Bush. A move that would work well in a Democratic primary. Lieberman would end up losing the primary but winning the general election as an independent.

As Lizza points out, YouTube sends a warning shot to all politicians. The lesson to be learned is politicians must watch what they say, because it will be put on YouTube. There are some pros and cons to this.

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