techPresident - A Videographer In Every Pot? - Comments

Citizens are the "Big Brother" of today

Marisa — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:58:20 -0400

I agree with one of the comments. This will happen regardless. Funny to think that citizens are actually the "Big Brother" of our country.
Marisa

not surprising

Jonathan Trenn — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:03:30 -0400

This doesn't surprise me and I'm betting both parties end up doing this. And that could include a lot of state parties

My biggest concern will be doctored videos. Not the 1984 mashup, but those that you can't quite tell if it's actually genuine.

www.digitalstreetjournal.com

It's no more "telling" ...

Encoderer — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 19:29:35 -0400

It's no more "telling" than the fact that pandering to the religious right was "critical" to GOP success in 2000.

It's no more "telling" than the fact that the gay-marriage bans all over state ballots were "critical" to GOP chances in 2004.

And it's no more "telling" than the widely held prediction that a superior GOTV operation was "critical" to GOP chances in 2006.

We're a closely divided country. You'd be accusing Democrats of hubris if they acted like it was a ready-made election based on some huge shift in the electorate. And you'd be correct in doing so. Don't act like both sides wouldn't do just about anything to pull out a W.

And I don't mind pointing out that there's nothing low-road about showing the American people the things some of these guys are willing to say when they think their words won't carry much farther than the room they're standing in.

Not critical, that's the wrong impression

Raven Brooks — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:43:06 -0400

This is not critical for getting a Democrat in the White House in 2008, or even expanding the existing majorities. Far from it. The DNC is just once again leading the way and allowing their people to think out of the box and experiment a little bit.

Video saw some good success in 2006, so some bright spark there said "hey wouldn't our chances of having lightning strike again be much better if we paid for people to be at these events?" It is a no brainer, because if you do happen to capture one of these lightning strikes and you can take advantage of a candidate self destructing that just makes everyone's job that much easier. Money can be reallocated to other races, and maybe a lower tier race now becomes competitive.

This is along the same lines as a lot of the other projects the DNC has done including paying to put organizers on the ground in states no one thought Democrats could win to rebuild the party.

Great idea

timmah1 — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:03:28 -0400

I agree with the comments above. Every event is most likely going to be videotaped anyway, but the fact that the DNC sees this as critical to their chances in 2008 is quite telling.

www.timfullerton.com

Smart strategy...

David All — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:57:13 -0400

I had not seen this email. Great find Turk.

...This could be bad.
________________________________________
David All
The David All Group
http://davidallgroup.com
________________________________________

nt

Raven Brooks — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:11:35 -0400

I think this will happen regardless of what the DNC does, although this would be a very nice incentive to encourage more of it--I'm sure some activists will appreciate funding for their trips.

The macaca video was captured by accident and some of the other videos were captured as a result of activists following Allen around his campaign stops.

The 1984 ad that has received much press recently was created by an activist that happened to have some technical skills.

If 2004-2006 is when blogging really came into its own, then 2008 and beyond will be the time for video in my opinion. What they have in common is that the content comes from ordinary people, some with more skill than others, and the barrier to entry is almost non-existent. These people capturing video around the country will be fulfilling a need that isn't being served, much the same as their blogger counterparts are doing.

What that essentially is in my opinion is a fundamental failure of the media to do it's job. During election season that includes helping people to get to know the candidates in as impartial a manner as possible. That includes not only covering scripted events but probing for chinks in the armor and trying to find out what someone will really be like in office and what they really think, not what their communications director wants you to think they think.

Left leaning activists, campaigns, bloggers and political institutions have proven they are more receptive and adept at trying and perfecting online technologies so expect them to get on the boards first here with some major video moment in the '08 cycle.

A Videographer In Every Pot?

Michael Turk — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:42:43 -0400

I received an e-mail from the DNC today laying out plans for a new state-by-state strategy. It's not the same old 50-state plan, and should make the GOP cringe.

The Democrats plan to put videographers on the ground in every state. While the e-mail is focused on the possibilities for the top of the ticket, the real benefit could be found down ballot.