Politicos beware: You live in YouTube's world.

WASHINGTON – ...But in the brave new world of YouTube politics, almost anything is possible. And just 18 months after its launch, the website is already playing an integral role in campaigns.

..."We've always known the power of video, but now everybody in the world with a cellphone or a small high-res camera and broadband" can get in the act, says Michael Cornfield, an expert on the Internet and politics who teaches at George Washington University. "YouTube is the last link in the system, which is, now 'I can go find it.' "

For several years, political advisers have been instructing their clients to Google themselves and check their Wikipedia entries. "Now the third station of the cross is you've got to YouTube yourself," says Mr. Cornfield. "You have to know just what you look like and how many people are hitting on and redistributing your video."

Already, Web-savvy candidates across the globe are posting speeches, ads, and clips from community meetings on YouTube, though most are best viewed to combat insomnia. ... For low- budget campaigns, videos on YouTube are a cheap way to spread the word.

...If nothing else, the widely publicized flap has put all politicians on notice that they can never let their guard down. That pesky constituent following you all the way to your campaign bus may be wielding a recording device, and it's best to remain polite. Conveying context can still be problematic with videos. And there's always the possibility of technological trickery, à la Photoshop. But this new ability to post and share videos is nothing short of revolutionary in the political world of message management and image making....

The Yardbirds - For Your Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiRhP2wLrG0

The Yardbirds - Heart Full of Soul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYXt0RFVjfo

The Yardbirds - Shapes of Things
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q1d-kXcdEw

The Yardbirds - the scene from the 1966 movie "Blow Up"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSJGEn4FDys

Hillary Clinton's Campaign Frauds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1gpxhhiD54

This exclusive video, taken by Spider Man creator Stan Lee in June, 2000, shows Hillary Clinton speaking with her largest secret contributor , Internet entrepreneur Peter Paul, at a VIP fundraising lunch at Spago Restaurant and a Fundraising Tea for 150, both of which Hillary did not report to the FEC in violation of FEC laws and Federal criminal statutes. Hillary Clinton told the Washington Post twice in August, 2000 (see www.hillcap.org) that she never did or would accept money from Peter Paul- AFTER taking $1.6 million from him and BEFORE asking for another $100,000 in untraceable securities. see the proof for yourself. www.hillcap.org

More YouTube news in today's Sunday NY Times:

The YouTube Election

From article:

...But YouTube may be changing the political process in more profound ways, for good and perhaps not for the better, according to strategists in both parties. If campaigns resemble reality television, where any moment of a candidate’s life can be captured on film and posted on the Web, will the last shreds of authenticity be stripped from our public officials? Will candidates be pushed further into a scripted bubble? In short, will YouTube democratize politics, or destroy it?

YouTube didn’t even exist until 2005, but it now attracts some 20 million different visitors a month. In statements to the press, the company has been quick to take credit for radically altering the political ecosystem by opening up elections, allowing lesser known candidates to have a platform.

Some political analysts say that YouTube could force candidates to stop being so artificial, since they know their true personalities will come out anyway. “It will favor a kind of authenticity and directness and honesty that is frankly going to be good,” said Carter Eskew, a media consultant who worked for Senator Lieberman’s primary campaign. “People will say what they really think rather than what they think people want to hear.”

But others see a future where politicians are more vapid and risk averse than ever. Matthew Dowd, a longtime strategist for President Bush who is now a partner in a social networking Internet venture, Hot Soup, looks at the YouTube-ization of politics, and sees the death of spontaneity.

“Politicians can’t experiment with messages,” Mr. Dowd said. “They can’t get voter response. Seventy or 80 years ago, a politician could go give a speech in Des Moines and road-test some ideas and then refine it and then test it again in Milwaukee.”

He sees a future where candidates must be camera-ready before they hit the road, rather than be a work in progress. “What’s happened is that politicians now have to be perfect from Day 1,” he said. “It’s taken some richness out of the political discourse.”

Howard Wolfson, a senior adviser to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is not known for her spontaneity, agrees...

Interesting article.

Then again, YouTube’s impact on politics may be exaggerated. For one, the site’s users are generally young and not highly engaged politically.
“Most social networking sites cater to younger audiences, 18 to 24,” says Michael Bassik, vice president of Internet advertising at MSHC Partners, which advises candidates on media strategies. “For the most part, it’s not political conversations taking place there.”
And maybe the Allen video wasn’t all that shocking after all.
Jeff Jarvis, author of the BuzzMachine blog and an Internet consultant to The New York Times Company, doesn’t think all that much has changed.
“Is it news that politicians say stupid things?” he asks. “Of course not.”

I don't know how many active members FR has, not to mention those nonmembers who read FR, but I think the NYT underestimated how politically active users of YouTube are and their age range.

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