Garling Gauge

Presidential Matchup: Bootie vs. Krueger?

[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/krueger.flv[/flv]
Democratic presidential candidate Karl Krueger wants your vote

Underdog presidential candidates harness the internet

In the media war of presidential campaigns there are many battles.

Among the ‘top tier’ candidates these scuffs are highly publicized, such as recent post-debate remarks on differences in foreign policy between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama exposed at the July 24, 2007 CNN-YouTube Democratic presidential debate. The battles waged by underdog candidates, however, often go unnoticed.

If a presidential candidate falls in a forest and no one is around…well, you get the idea.

Led by current John Edwards campaign adviser Joe Trippi, the internet has become an essential medium for candidates seeking public service. At low cost with high viewer potential, websites and web video have enabled unknown candidates to make their mark.

Enter the underdogs.

First mentioned on this website in an article entitled YouTube & Unknown Presidential Candidates, relatively unknown presidential candidates have begun dipping their marketing toes into online video as a means to reach a greater audience.

The Garling Gauge was contacted by the campaign manger of one of these unknown candidates, “ultra-conservative” John Bootie, politely thanking this site for exposure in the article. Responding to the letter with a sarcastic embrace, the subsequent post Presidential Hopeful Declared Website Mascot highlighted snippets of the Bootie platform, and in the spirit of grassroots internet bipartisanship, embraced Mr. Bootie as this website’s mascot.

Official Garling Gauge 2008
presidential election season mascot

(Suggestions for the official Garling Gauge bird, flower, gem and/or song are welcome as comments to this post)

Not sitting ideally by, Democratic presidential candidate Karl Krueger has entered the fray, contacting the Garling Gauge directly:

I took your example and posted video to the youtube. Sound bit clips really. I am not getting many views. I still have more to post but should have all of them up by 2 August.
If you have suggestions please let me know.

Karl

Fear not Democratic kindred, you too have a unique niche in this “series of tubes“.

Not only has army veteran, farmer and skydiver Karl Krueger “posted video to the youtube”, he has inundated it with numerous brief clips presenting his opinion on contemporary issues. Every candidate should do this.

(Karl, rename Immagration to Immigration. I can’t emphasize Spellcheck to candidates enough)

While impossible to articulate complex policies in a few seconds, sound bite interviews and short videos like these provide enough information for the electorate to decide whether they want to investigate a candidate further.

On Iraq, Krueger’s summary of his vision is precise and concise:

“Arabs in, Americans out”

Krueger cites language and cultural barriers in Iraq to buttress his statement.

[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/krueger2.flv[/flv]
Karl Krueger on how he would handle the Iraq War

See all of Karl Krueger’s videos here & here.

Why should we pay attention to these underdog candidates?

Free from a throng of high-paid consultants, long shot candidates tend to be more blunt on the issues (probably due to having fewer public statements). The more the electorate heeds these underdogs, the greater the issues and perspectives raised by the candidates redound in the public forum, broadening the debate.

Long shot presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul sent ripples through the internet with his tiff involving Republican frontrunner Rudy Guiliani at the second Republican debate, eliciting my own small commentary. Now Rep. Paul has a large online following, dominating other presidential aspirants with YouTube videos.

Like radicals in our society, blunt-speaking long shot candidates help define the outer edges of contemporary issues. John Bootie, Karl Krueger and other unknowns should be commended for their underdog courage by entering the bruising fray of presidential politics.

What would a Bootie vs. Krueger presidential match up look like? With both candidates being truck drivers, it would probably look something like this:

VS

Perhaps not.

Nonetheless, as internet use grows and future elections truck on by, expect more and more unknowns to enter the political process in the form of bloggers, advertisers, consultants, and yes, candidates.

Christine Smith, we’re still waiting to hear from you.

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See also: Presidential Hopeful Declared Website Mascot

http://www.transformersmovie.com , http://www.dot.state.mn.us/ofrw/images/h2peterbilt.jpg, http://tinyurl.com/26eu28, http://www.bestandanderson.com/images/semi_collisions.jpg, http://tinyurl.com/2oqfrx

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