‘08 political run plays out on YouTube

By Jocelyn Noveck

updated 4:13 p.m. ET July 5, 2007

NEW YORK - Given all that's at stake in the 2008 presidential race, it's a bit terrifying to realize that by one measure, a major role is being played by an aspiring model/actress/fashion designer/former beauty pageant contestant named Amber.

That's Amber Lee Ettinger, aka Obama Girl, whose racy Web video "I Got A Crush On Obama" has gotten well over 2 million hits in the three weeks it's been online, making it one of the most-watched political videos this season.

Some of us have gotten so used to our daily fix of Web videos, it's hard to remember that back in 2004, when President Bush spoke of "the Internets," there WAS no YouTube.

Three years later, people are calling this the "YouTube Election" — in which anyone with a minicam or even a mere cell phone can conceivably impact the outcome. "Some of the best, the most innovative stuff is gonna come from some voter out there, who changes the entire complexion of the race," says Joe Trippi, former campaign manager for Howard Dean in 2004, now adviser to the John Edwards campaign.

And that's a scary thing for campaigns, which are used to controlling their own message, enforcing it from the top down. On the new playing field, "you lose the ability to manage what you want to say," says Democratic strategist Chris Lehane, a former Clinton White House staffer.

So what's a campaign manager to do? Fight back, with all the technology available: MySpace and Facebook profiles, candidates' own online communities, text-messaging networks. On Sen. Barack Obama's site, you can download ringtones with snippets of his speeches set to a rock or hip-hop motif.

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