Daily Digest: 4/2/07

Joshua Levy — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 10:51:06 -0400

The Web on the Candidates
The key to the 2008 presidential race won't the be candidates' stands on issues like Iraq, global warming, or the economy. Instead, suggests Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle, it's all about the brand. "The hope is that 'Hillary' conjures up 'experienced leader,' 'Obama' translates into 'fresh outsider' and 'Rudy' means 'America's mayor,'" she writes. Adds Richard Levick, president of Levick Strategic Communications, "If anyone had any doubt about how we choose the most important political office in the U.S. ... we do it by the brand rather than the ideas. We choose them as we do diapers or cornflakes ... we buy things emotionally.'' Referring to the "Vote Different" 1984 ad, Levick said, "This ad wasn't done by the (Sen. Barack) Obama camp, but it did exactly what they wanted to do. Position (Clinton) as the IBM to their Apple. She's old Washington, he's the fresh face." Peter Leyden of the New Politics Institute has a slightly different take: "What we're going through right now is a phase shift in politics -- which is going from a top- down, centralized, hierarchical world to a much more democratized, bottom-up, participatory form, and that transition is extremely difficult for the current players in politics."

On the day of Obama's "community kickoff" event this weekend, in which supporters met at house parties around the country, other supporters preferred to meet virtually at Obama's unofficial HQ in Second Life. I was there and witnessed a Obama-like avatar standing on a stage above the supporters. He was silent as the supporters milled about, talking about politics and their support for Obama. Supporters were asked to donate money directly through Obama's own web site, so there wasn't an immediate way to track any fundraising successes or failures.

techPresident - Daily Digest: 4/2/07 - Comments

Daily Digest: 4/2/07