A Preview of Election 08 - Podcasting Politicians

Video Blogger writes "The LA Times predicts that the 2008 election will feature the rise of Podcasting Politicians, as strategists from both parties try to ride the latest trends to secure a victory in 2008. 'You'll not only be able to text people with messages, you'll be able to raise money, deliver video, audio, create viral organizing -- where one person sees something really interesting and it gets passed on and on,' says Donnie Fowler, a Democratic strategist."

Podcasting's influence totally overrated

[DreadfulGrape]

So the L.A. Times thinks podcasting could turn the tide in the 2008 U.S. presidential election? Bwahahahaha... let's run the numbers:

One of the most optimistic predictions of a podcast audience comes Forrester Research Group, who says that [imediaconnection.com] 12 million people will regularly listen to podcasts by 2010. So let's roll that number back a bit and generously say that the 2008 podcasting audience is 10 million. Of that, maybe one-tenth will be tuned into anything political; the rest will be listening to crap like this. [podshow.com]

So, a million political podcast listeners in 2008. Enough to swing an election? Maybe, if they are all from Texas and/or Florida. But of course, they won't be. And they won't all liberal, or all conservative.

The real advantage podcasting holds for pols is that it's a cost effective means of getting a message out, i.e. bandwidth is cheaper than broadcast air time, and is not subject to campaign finance law (not yet, anyway).

Re:Liberalism and Conservatism

[HillaryWBush]

Same problem here. I posted something that was originally 5, Funny. Then after several responses, it was later in the day, marked down to -1, Troll. My karma never recovered.