Earlier this month TechPresident announced the creation of John Edwards' unofficial campaign headquarters in Second Life. It was put together by a volunteer not officially associated with the campaign. As noted in the article that makes him the first 2008 presidential candidate to establish a presence in Second Life, official or not.

I decided to stop by, only to discover that Edwards' Second Life headquarters had chalked up another first, the first virtual campaign HQ to be vandalized.

Almost all of the 2008 presidential candidates post news in some form on their web sites, whether they are press releases or collected news articles. Many candidates now also post speeches and host blogs on their site. The goal of all of these things is to give you the potential supporter, activist, blogger, or political reporter more information about that candidate's position on the issues, inform you of events, or communicate campaign news.

So how does RSS help take a candidate's information distribution machine to the next level?. Let's talk about some of our primary information consumers and how RSS can benefit them.

One thing to watch this presidential campaign cycle will be the usage of YouTube by presidential candidates. YouTube allows a presidential candidate yet another avenue to engage potential supporters and voters, and it does so for an incredibly low price tag. All one needs is a digital video camcorder, a computer and an internet connection. The YouTube community doesn't demand the high production values that a TV audience requires. Another important aspect of YouTube is the viral aspect of it, particularly among an increasingly active and growing demographic, young voters.