John Edwards: High-Tech Democrat
December 28, 2006, 9:45pm
Former Sen. John Edwards has been acting like a 2008 presidential candidate ever since he fell short of the vice presidency as the 2004 running mate of Sen. John Kerry. Now Edwards has made his candidacy official — and he has done so in a high-tech way.
From New Orleans today, Edwards announced the old-fashioned way that he will try to become the Democrats’ 2008 presidential nominee: He held a press conference. But a day earlier, he made the same announcement online by posting a video to YouTube:
Edwards, whose campaign has a dedicated page at YouTube, encouraged viewers to forward the video to their friends in an effort to spur a groundswell of support for changing the country now. “We’re not waiting for Election Day. … We’re going to ask you to do things today,” he said, adding that his campaign is planning a “national day of action” for Jan. 27.
“You’re going to make the difference,” Edwards said. “You’re going to bring about the changes this country needs. And we need change badly.” He called for quickly removing U.S. troops from Iraq, for taking steps to curtail global warming and move toward “a new energy economy,” and for tackling issues like poverty and shortcomings in healthcare.
Edwards’ decision to make his announcement online and to embrace technology in other ways, such as engaging readers at Daily Kos and using mobile technology, won him some attention (not all of it flattering) from new media experts at BuzzMachine and Personal Democracy Forum.
The San Fransciso Chronicle also noted that key technology innovators already have connections to the Edwards campaign.
Categories: Producer's Picks, Presidency 2008, John Edwards
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December 29th, 2006 at 9:06 am
I think Edwards is great but I just don’t know what has changed since 2004 except that he is two years older. The more I think about the Dems in 2008, the more I think the nomination is Al Gore’s to lose: he was robbed in 2000, has been consistently right on Iraq (unlike Hillary), and will not have a problem with either cash or name recognition… I wrote a story on this at www.minor-ripper.blogspot.com
January 18th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Everything “you can do” has everything to do with politics and legislative action. Nothing with volunteerism and caring for our fellow man with our own time and energy. Pitiful.
“Cause” is now getting Edwards elected and diverting your attention to his campaign.
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Charity is compulsion and delegation to a federal agency.