Here we are on the night before Campaign 2008 officially comes to a close. I have listened to the pundits, read the blogs, checked in with Twitter and reviewed all the polls. It indeed seems that all signs point to an Obama victory.
Or do they? There are some less traditional ways to predict Presidential elections, as well. Let’s take a look at a couple, as well as some ideas for what to do after you vote.
Unofficial Virginia Yard Sign Poll
Speaking of signs, I was driving in to work after dropping off my daughter at school last week and noticed that there were quite a few yard signs in my Alexandria, Virginia neighborhood. So, just for kicks, I decided to actually count them today.
One week to go until Election Day! After almost two long years of campaigning, we are finally in the home stretch and these days everyone is a political pundit and prognosticator. If you believe the latest polls, we will all be heading to bed early on November 4th with an Obama-Biden landslide victory while McCain-Palin and the GOP receive another “thumpin’” akin to the 2006 midterm election.
What do you think? Want to play pollster? A friend of mine sent a link to PredictNovember.com via Facebook which gives users an opportunity to predict the outcome via their own electoral map. Will swing states like Virginia, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida go RED or BLUE? You make the call!
Here we go, 25 days and counting until Election Day and things are really starting to heat up! The MSM is all in a tizzy with constant last minute “Breaking News” about ACORN, Alaska secession, Bill Ayers, voter fraud, Gov. Palin’s hacked email account and of course, “that one!”
The question is how do you break through all that fodder to get your message across? Well, the Jewish Council for Education and Research, came up with The Great Schlep and teamed up with comedian Sarah Silverman to promote it. Of course, she brings new meaning to the phrase, “Cuss and discuss!”
We haven’t seen a whole lot of former Vice President Al Gore lately. He has been relatively quiet since his 2000 presidential run and his endorsement of former Gov. Howard Dean in 2004. There was some conjecture that he might even throw his hat in the ring in 2008. During a keynote at the 2007 PRSA Conference in Philadelphia, the late host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Tim Russert, pointed out that since losing his bid for the presidency, Gore has won an Oscar, an Emmy and the Nobel Peace Prize, and sits on the boards of numerous corporate giants, including Google. Russert joked that the Oval Office might actually be a step down for Gore!
This cycle, it seems that the former veep has gone from counting chads to tracking tweets via the global TV network Current, which he owns with business partner Joel Hyatt. Current has been on the air since 2005 and provides a variety of short programs, or “pods,” created by users called VC2 producers, as well as longer programs produced by the network.
Last night, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain participated in a forum on volunteerism and public service in conjuction with the ServiceNation summit at Columbia University in New York. Clearly, given McCain’s military service and Obama’s background as a community organizer, it should be no surprise to anyone that both presidential candidates were in agreement on the importance community service.
Yesterday was also the seventh anniversary of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks that forever changed the lives of so many Americans. Earlier in the day, the two presidential candidates visited Ground Zero along with New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. McCain’s wife, Cindy. It was entirely appropriate and refreshing that both campaigns put politics aside in a brief moment of unity to pay their respects and honor the fallen.
President Bush observed a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House, then participated in the dedication ceremony of the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. In a taped message this week (below), President Bush took the opportunity to reflect upon America’s strength, courage and grace in the wake of the attacks. He discussed the intent behind the creation of USA Freedom Corps: to connect Americans with opportunities to serve our country and to foster a culture of citizenship, responsibility and service.
I love Austin, Texas! Seriously, what’s not to like? It’s both a powerful capital city and a happening college town with great food, terrific music, historic films and, of course, the craziness of 6th Street! I have been there several times over the years for work and conferences, as well as a couple visits with close friends who live/work in the area.
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of making another trip to the “Live Music Capital of the World” (as well as a side visit to Dallas) for work and to visit WE’s Austin office. On Saturday afternoon, Social Media Club Austin and Waggener Edstrom kindly hosted an event at Scholz Garten to welcome me to their town. I met some terrific folks, including David J. Neff, who then introduced me to … his house.
Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) is on Twitter @johnculberson. So is Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) @timryan. For those who don’t know, Twitter is a microblog that enables users to “tweet” out short text messages in 140 characters or less (about a sentence or two) designed to answer this question: “What are you doing right now?”
The popularity of the site has certainly grown, especially in the world of politics in recent months:
The White House has been on Twitter for about a year. UPDATE 1/2009: President George W. Bush’s Twitter account (@TheWhiteHouse) was closed shortly after President Obama was sworn-in. The new account may be found at @whitehouse.
Many presidential hopefuls were Twitterng early in the 2008 campaign including Sens. Edwards, Obama, Clinton and McCain.
At the Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) on June 23-24 in New York, Ana Marie Cox moderated a policy debate between Liz Mair (for McCain) and Mike Nelson (for Obama) via Twitter (hashtag: #pdfdebate).
Just this past week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was Twittering live from the G8 Summit in Toyako, Japan.
We get it, the Internet matters – but how much in the political world? And what about younger voters? Will the Web affect the way they cast their ballots on Election Day? We found out.
Earlier this week, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide released results from the Young Internet Voter of 2008 Study. We wanted to learn more about Young Internet Voters (18-35 year olds) and how they are using digital communications to gather information about the 2008 U.S. presidential race.
Very flattering indeed. I was thrilled when Diana Falzone called although my wife wasn’t too pleased to hear that I hang out with Maxim models.
Seriously, they almost had me going until I saw the bus banner. Needs a little more CGI work from the pros at ILM to pull that off. However, I have seen that tatoo in at least half a dozen other places, so hence the confusion.
The viral nature of customization is what’s cool here. I see a number of applications, especially when building community, generating awareness or just pranking friends. Well done, News Channel 3.
Or do they? There are some less traditional ways to predict Presidential elections, as well. Let’s take a look at a couple, as well as some ideas for what to do after you vote. 
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of making another trip to the “
The popularity of the site has certainly grown, especially in the world of politics in recent months:
