09/01/2008 / UNITED STATES
The video that tipped the democrat voters?
Barack Obama is a star in the internet community, making regular appearances on Facebook and YouTube and bagging a mention in every second blog. But today, with the help of a video posted on YouTube, Hillary Clinton has made a fierce comeback online. Staring into ABC's cameras, she brings herself to tears explaining that the difficult battle she's fighting, she does so ‘thinking of her children'. These images, which have humanised a candidate who until now has been criticised for her stony personality and reckless ambition, have already been watched 300,000 times on YouTube.
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According to the site Presidential Watch, Barack Obama is the most quoted of the democrat candidates on the web. He's also got the strongest groups on Facebook, like this one, with 420,000 members already. Obama also benefited from the ‘viral' power of the net at the beginning of the campaign. Indeed, one of his supporters posted this video, depicting Clinton's campaign as ‘Orwellian', on YouTube. Using images from the film ‘1984', it replaces ‘Big Brother' with the ex-first lady. The message: "learn how to interact with your audience online; don't just hammer out political slogans."
Thanks to this short video, Clinton seems to have shed her ‘political go-getter, heartless woman' facade. There were times when a candidate would lose an election over a show of weakness like this. Not anymore. In 2004 John Kerry cried in front of the cameras in the New Hampshire primaries. And he went on to win them.
© ABC News
Video posted 7 January 2008»
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It’s the economy stupid!
Submitted by James Williams on Wed, 09/01/2008 - 20:15.Jim Williams
Washington/Baltimore
In 1992 those words were written in red pen at the top of every speech that Bill Clinton gave. It was a mantra and constant reminder that James Carville who served as Clinton’s Campaign manager stressed was the only issue that the American people really cared about.
It was that issue that drove Bill Clinton into office over George H.W. Bush.
Fast forward to 2008 and after the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary it may be a surprise for many that the number one issue on voter’s minds remains the economy.
The war in Iraq, health care, and education are all issues on the minds of American voters but with the real possibility of a recession coming in 2008 the economy once again moved to the top of the list of issues.
All the major polling data done by ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, The New York Times and the Washington Post in Iowa and New Hampshire puts the economy as the number one issue among Democrats and Independents.
There is a real possibility of a recession coming later this year and with every major economic indicator pointing in a downward direction the electorate is paying attention in a big way as the race for the Presidency is in full operation mode.
People are losing their jobs as the job market is down; they are losing their homes as a part of the mortgage market crisis shows no real change for the good.
So while there is a war going on and American’s are keenly aware of it the real issue in 2008 as it was in 1992 is “The Economy Stupid.”
James Williams