a very good year

James Kelm muses on the role of viral video in the coming election and calls on bloggers to embed more video into their posts, particularly for those "who won't take the time to read".

While the piece is thought-provoking, I don't know about that last point. Yes, bloggers should be integrating video into their blogs, but video certainly offers more than sound and pictures for the illiterate, particularly when you're talking about politics. The most effective tactics for mobilizing voters are those with a personal touch. Meeting the actual candidate? It's likely to seal the deal. Unless, of course, you're a jaded primary voter in New Hampshire or a caucuser in Iowa. In that case, you know the candidates would sleep with you if it meant they could get your over-inflated vote, so it's a little more difficult to be impressed. Poor you.

I had a front row seat in the past two presidential elections, although I doubt that will be the case this time around. If I had my video camera with me throughout 2000 and 2004, I would have been able to share this privileged perspective with others, pointing them in the direction of those candidates who dazzled me and those that left me wondering who let them off the bus. I like to think I have some talent with words, but the palpability of the buzz in a crowd gathered to hear a candidate who TRULY has something to say? I'll leave that to video.

I have visions of hitting the road in 2008 to capture some of these tales and I can't help but think that there will be a large crowd out there on the road with me -- most of whom will not be wearing an official press pass. Oh, like Frank said, it will be a very good year.

(The James Kelm post comes via Andrew Sullivan, who is apparently in a contest with himself for the title of shortest blog post ever.)