Politics
The Ultimate Guide to Live Election Coverage
The interminable U.S. presidential campaign season will come finally come to an end tomorrow night. If you’re looking for a map with updating red and blue states (a tradition that dates back to NBC in the 1976 election, it turns out), we’ve got you covered. If you’re looking for more than that, we’ve got you covered, too.
Last week we wrote up some of the best places to watch election results online. Since we compiled that story, additional news outlets have finalized their plans of attack, and more people have pointed us to other great resources.
If you want to get your election news from a linear TV channel, that’s your call. But as Slate editor Joan Walsh told the New York Times, “At a time when almost anyone can check voter turnout in certain neighborhoods in Cuyahoga County, I don’t think everyone is going to sit there and wait to be spoon-fed the election results in the order Brian Williams thinks is appropriate.” So if you’re planning to set up a multiscreen command center, here are some sites to pull up:
Steve Chen: Videos Provide More Political Context
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom sat down for a chat with YouTube co-founder Steve Chen last night to discuss the role of YouTube in politics. In the age of the “Macaca Moment” and the Hillary Clinton “1984″ ad, video and YouTube specifically are affecting political campaigns. Chen mostly spoke in broad strokes when discussing his company’s role in the political process, but things got interesting when the conversation turned to context and the ubiquity of video.
One question was from an audience member who wanted to know if Chen felt that YouTube videos made politicians’ comments more in context or out-of-context. Chen said there was “more context with a 30 second video than a two sentence line in print.” He also said that the stuff that goes on before, during or after you watch the video (like comments) helps provide even more context.
The Internet: Hillary Clinton’s BFF?
It’s hard to imagine how this election cycle might have played out without the influence of online video — especially for Hillary Clinton. Whether or not you support the senator from New York, web video has offered us a chance to call media bias into question or reexamine her stories, in theory adding a new level of sophistication to discussing her campaign.
And yet, given all these possibilities, what is today’s most-watched Clinton video on YouTube? In fact, what is today’s most watched YouTube video, period? The latest in the attractive-girl-singing-about-political-candates genre, Hillary, Be My Best Friend.
Karina’s Capsule: Here Comes McCain Again
Were you as surprised as I was that so many people even questioned whether the first McCain Girls video was an earnest effort by genuine supporters? I was amazed that some people even went as far as to suggest that it was paid for or produced by the campaign itself.
I know the jury’s still out as to whether or not the Republican candidate has the pop cultural savvy to be our commander in chief (Was that whole “Heidi Montag is a talented actress” comment made out of utter cluelessness, or was it a knowing wink at the construction of her pseudo-reality show, The Hills?) but McCain seems smart enough to generally play away from his known weaknesses.
Plus, It’s Raining McCain simply looked too good. From the hundreds of little McCains that rained on the Girls to a green-screen gaffe caused by a certain costume, the video’s very badness had a rhythm to it that was clearly intentional. But if any doubt remains that McCain Girls is something between pure parody and Obama Girl-style, cable news-baiting performance art, the Girls’ latest video should clear that up.
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