Handicapping the New Media Candidates: Kucinich v. Giuliani

Dodd has the Dodd Squad and his proposed army of videographers, asking questions. Hillary has her Sopranos spoof and a campaign song chosen via vote from her campaign website. Now Dennis Kucinich is throwing open the doors of his YouTube channel to the public.

This Kucinich video, prominently featured on his YouTube and campaign websites, sort of looks like he is coming to you live from the command deck of the Death Star.

The idea is novel and probably engaging for people who make short films and want to vote for Dennis Kucinich. I imagine they will get some submissions, and a few of them might be worthy of running, along the strict lines of quality normally reserved for amateur video. I think the idea is representative of how easy technology has made some creative endeavors, and also signals that Kucinich isn't afraid to showcase his supporters.

Contrast this idea with Rudy Giuliani's reluctance to engage New Media, which is outlined at techPresident by James Kotecki in, hilariously enough, an amateur video. Kotecki makes the argument that just because Rudy is enjoying success despite having done very little with MySpace, YouTube, or blogging doesn't mean that MySpace, YouTube, and blogging aren't important to campaigns. I agree that they are important, but I don't think they are make or break — I am willing to bet it is still possible for someone to get elected President without MySpacing a Facebook to anyone, although this may be the last election where that's true and a strong web presence certainly, absolutely helps.

Kotecki also says that engagement in social networking communities is important because, essentially, failing to define yourself in a user-driven community allows the community to define you, and in the case of Giuliani, he's right. The very first result if you search for "Giuliani" on YouTube is Rudy, in drag, kissing Donald Trump.

So, Rudy fails to engage New Media but is still more or less out in front of the GOP primary race. Dennis Kucinich is engaging in egalitarian social experiments through his deep involvement with New Media and is decidedly not out in front in his race.

Is it a partisan thing? I would argue that the internet is far more important to Democrats than it is to Republicans. Clinton and Edwards have been all over the web, but they aren't letting supporters make their campaign ads, and that level of involvement is probably the proper choice for Democrats.

On the other hand, Republicans are more uneven around the top. You have Giuliani's messy and clipped forays. McCain's YouTube page has already been covered, and although it is sporadic and feels a litle cursory, he does have a blog. Mitt Romney writes a few things himself, and he has his kids to be conduits to the intertubes, so that's worked out well for him.

The important thing here is that everyone is playing to their team's constituency, and Republicans are still just less webalyzed than Democrats. And while I agree that there's a certain amount of it every candidate has to do, I don't think the web will make or break a presidential candidate this time around. Unless Kucinich's request results in a really, really amazing ad.