Archive for October, 2007
The Economist reports on Louisiana’s recent gubernatorial election and is, as ever, scrupulously fair:
Mr Jindal is something of a paradox. He is the first non-white governor since Reconstruction; he is a Rhodes scholar; he is the nation’s youngest governor. In other words, he’s a breath of fresh air, a sign of progress who promises to eradicate corruption in what many say is America’s worst-governed state. On the other hand, he is a religious conservative who was as reliable a rubber-stamp as George Bush had in Congress, refusing to make a fuss even when Republicans there were blaming New Orleans for Katrina. Not all of the air is fresh.
If Bobby Jindal delivers on his promises to reform government ethics in Louisiana I will be the first to congratulate him. It is sorely needed. Sadly, his record in Congress does not fill me with optimism.
More interestingly, The Economist notes that only 80,000 New Orleanians voted last Saturday. Why is that number significant? In 2002, Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D) victory margin in New Orleans was 80,000. The total number of voters decreased 40%. It is safe to assume that the vast majority of that 40% were African-American, Democratic voters and likely supporters of Sen. Mary Landrieu.
Despite more than $3.4m cash on hand and no confirmed opponent, it is now clearer than ever that Sen. Mary Landrieu faces an uphill battle in her bid to be re-elected in 2008.
John McCain’s campaign has just released a new TV ad capitalizing on McCain’s nimble attack on Hillary Clinton at the recent Fox News Republican Presidential debate in Florida, which also enabled him to highlight his experiences as a POW in Vietnam.
Bashing Hillary Clinton is always a winner with the Republican base and the contrast with McCain’s record in Vietnam is stark. Great job by John McCain and also by his staff for putting this into a TV ad and email fundraising campaign so quickly (the email went out today). The message is perfect web video fodder and I’m sure it will pull in lots of money.
UPDATE: Fox News is apparently demanding McCain pull all Fox News video from his website. By contrast, Rudy Giuliani’s website is blanketed with Fox News video, but he is yet to receive a similar cease and desist letter.
I just came across this video (via Lib Dem Voice) of Paddy Ashdown, former Liberal Democrat party leader, explaining why he’s backing Nick Clegg in the leadership race.
It’s really rather good. Paddy looks relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera, aided by the fact the camera is shooting from an angle and not head on (kudos to the cameraman!). This is a highly effective technique that can instantly improve the quality of a video. The lighting is good, streaming in through the window behind him, making Paddy look young and fresh. The open laptop and coffee mug on the desk also add a sense of authenticity.
This is an excellent example of good quality online video. Regardless of who you support in the Lib Dem leadership race, I hope all Lib Dem members will take note of the simple techniques applied in this video and try to put them into practice themselves.
It will also be interesting to see if Nick can match Paddy’s on camera performance and whether his campaign team are going to make online video a central part of their campaign. A large YouTube button does appear very prominently on the frontpage of Nick’s website at least, alongside buttons for two other major social networking sites, Flickr and Facebook.
My one request though, please get rid of that ghastly background on Nick’s YouTube page! It gives me a headache every time I look at it and frankly the information you are trying to convey, i.e. Nick’s name, slogan and website url, is not very clear.
I thought my American readers would enjoy these comments from Dr Pedro Alonso, a Spanish doctor, via The Economist:
“The weight of so many failures throughout our history has made Europeans afraid to fail. Americans are not like that. As an American scientist said, perhaps we will fail for 30 years, it does not matter. We will carry on until we succeed.”
The European Union offers aid in little mini-programmes, “so we feel good”, but the Americans think big, “with that simplicity of theirs that we laugh at,” Dr Alonso told El País. “They are the ones with the generosity to see that it is unacceptable that the random fact of being born in one bit of the world, rather than another, determines if we live for four weeks, six months or a year.”
I have to say I agree with his comments. I wouldn’t say Europeans are less tolerant of failure, but public shame is a much larger concern in Europe than it is in America. Americans have an unending, almost naive, optimism. That has a strong impact on the business culture and you can’t fail to notice it when you live here.
It would be interesting to hear the views of French entrepreneur, Loic le Meur, now based in San Francisco, or any other entrepreneurs who have set up companies on the opposite side of the Atlantic.
Justin Hamilton points out a new Facebook app called FriendsCSV. It can extract virtually all personal information from your friends’ profiles and export to a csv file. Crucially, this can all be done without the agreement of your friends.
An effective method of data mining Facebook profiles has long been the holy grail for politicians. Now the data is so readily available there really is no excuse for any politician not to be on Facebook.
Social networks offer many potentially beneficial and less utilitarian uses for politicians, but the sad truth is the possibility of reams of fresh voter data is what will bring the remaining holdouts scampering to the trough with renewed enthusiasm.
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Think of this in terms of independent political bloggers supporting a particular candidate. It makes a lot of sense.
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In my opinion, the best idea yet.
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Good analysis of Obama’s phenomenal email fundraising success
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Disturbing news
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This is phenomenal. Will it make a difference though?
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