Is 2008 the Last TV Election?
Submitted: August 12, 2008 - 8:47pm
Last updated: August 12, 2008 - 8:48pm
Last updated: August 12, 2008 - 8:48pm
Source:
Baltimore Sun
Author:
David Zurawik
The conventional wisdom holds that Sen Barack Obama, if elected, would be the first "cybergenic president," the first to understand the many ways in which the Internet and other new media are transforming politics and American life. Zurawik believes it is more accurate to say that a President Obama would be the last "TV president." Nothing speaks to the primacy of TV over the Internet this year like the record $5 million and $6 million spent by the Obama and McCain campaigns, respectively, in advertising buys on the Olympics. Follow the money if you want to know what the candidates and their handlers really believe in - and it's TV, not the Internet, that comes first. It's TV, not the Internet, stupid. And that's historic, too, because this could be the last time the really important stuff in a presidential election happens on that old media screen.
Links to Sources
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this page
Ratings
Recommendation:
Informative:
Accuracy:
Login to rate this headline.
Comments
We have to agree to disagree...
1. On online presence,
a. There's much more than YouTube:
This from C|Net:
Sen. Barack Obama has already proven himself to be the most popular presidential candidate on the Internet, what with his more than 1.3 million Facebook supporters and lofty aims of 2 million online donors. Now the presumptive Democratic nominee is not only outshining other politicians on the Internet, but also the very stars of social networking--Obama has just overtaken Kevin Rose's spot as the most followed person on Twitter, according to Twitterholic.
By Twitterholic's last count, Obama stands at 56,661 followers, compared with Rose's 56,442. Obama also has the second highest number of friends on Twitter--59,338--according to Twitterholic, which calculates individual statistics for each Twitter user a couple of times a day.
b. Again, McCain has only outdone Obama on YouTube in August, not for the entire year.
2. Obama has outraised and outspent Obama this year, but recall, too, that the general election only really kicked off in early June when the Dem primaries ended. So much of his spending was focused on his race with Sen Clinton, not Sen McCain. For his part, Sen McCain did not have to run a 50-state campaign because he became the prresumptive nominee much earlier.
3. It is neither my point -- nor the point of the original article summaried above -- that Sen Obama is a new innovative "cyber" candidate. The starting point was that both Obama and McCain continue to spend most on TV advertising and speculates that this might be the last presidential election thaat that is true for.
4. I guess everyone will pick their own numbers -- the only ones that will matter will be counted in november.
Your points are interesting but, with all due respect, the analysis lacks substance.
1. "I believe Sen. Obama still has a larger online presence"
What does "online presence" mean? How are you determining this and how exactly can you even say this with certainty? Yet you admit that Sen. McCain does in fact have more YouTube views than Obama. The number of YouTube views is a concrete way of measuring impact and the fact that you're verifying that McCain has more YouTube views strengthens my point. What more "online presence" is there than YouTube?
2. I find it interesting that you choose to look only at August. I think if you look at the whole summer and before, you'll find that Obama has raised and out-spent McCain by almost 2 to 1.
3. The point here is that you are trying to paint a picture of Obama as this new innovative "cyber" candidate. This simply isn't the case as he continues to spend the lions share of his money in traditional television advertising. Further, he's no more innovative than McCain has been with online media use despite you're attempt to portray McCain as an "Internet dunce."
4. Just as with your comments in the first point, I fail to see how these numbers disprove my point. 1) It still falls within or at least close to the margin of error and for all intents and purposes, these numbers are a tie. 2) Many of the polls used in pollster.com are themselves unreliable. The only ones that really matter are ones like Rassmusen and Zogby and they both show a statistical tie.
If I may parse out your response, you are saying the article is ill-informed because:
1. "The fact of the matter is that McCain is significantly ahead of Obama in YouTube views for his channel"
I believe that I've read that Sen McCain's video views for August are bigger than Sen Obama's. But, overall, I believe Sen Obama still has a larger online presence.
2. McCain is "accomplishing this feat despite being out-spent by O'Bama."
Hmm, it seems the most media attention this month is around the Olympics and Sen McCain is outspending -- by $1 million -- Sen Obama on ads during this programming.
3. "Obama is falling in line with traditional sentiments that the candidate with the most money wins."
Not sure what you mean by the candidate "falling in line with sentiment." Both campaigns are spending a lot of money on advertising -- television advertising -- and that appears to be the point of the article: that election 2008 may be the last that is played out mainly on television.
4. "Despite Obama's spending, he's in a flat out tie with McCain - this as the commentators continue to attempt to shape perceptions that McCain is clueless about online media."
On the polling question, I'd direct you to pollster.com which looks at all the national polls and finds Obama leads 46.5 to 43.8%.
I have to say that this headline, as well as the article "John McCain, Internet Dunce" are somewhat ill-informed. The fact of the matter is that McCain is significantly ahead of Obama in YouTube views for his channel and he's accomplishing this feat despite being out-spent by O'Bama. Indeed, that's the whole point. The Internet is supposed to be an alternative outlet by which people can have an impact regardless if they have money or not. As opposed to truly breaking new ground, Obama is falling in line with traditional sentiments that the candidate with the most money wins. Despite Obama's spending, he's in a flat out tie with McCain - this as the commentators continue to attempt to shape perceptions that McCain is clueless about online media.