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4play See other 4play Articles Title: Calamity just a click away for US presidential front-runners YouTube: Hilary sings national anthem YouTube: John Edwards does his hair Front-runners campaigning for the White House are getting to grips with a difficult dilemma: how to handle their "YouTube moment". From Hillary Clinton, who decided to ignore hers, to John McCain, whose team opted to fight back hard, candidates for next year's American presidential election are waking up to the fact that a single gaffe or unguarded moment captured on video may be downloaded from the internet and watched by millions. advertisement In fact, unflattering footage may be seen by more Americans than the candidates' carefully scripted speeches and could potentially sabotage an entire campaign. Sen Clinton was on her first high-profile campaign trip to Iowa last weekend when she was recorded singing The Star Spangled Banner, America's notoriously difficult national anthem, distinctly out of tune. The clip of the melodically challenged former First Lady was rapidly uploaded on to YouTube, the popular video-sharing online site that Google bought for $1.65 billion (£878 million) in November, and was viewed 660,000 times in the first 24 hours - the most-watched footage that day. Sen Clinton's husband Bill pioneered the art of rapid rebuttal during his first campaign for the White House 15 years ago, responding to negative reports within hours. But last week, the Democratic senator's war room decided to stay above the fray - a successful tactic, as her off-key moment caused amusement but no furore. "Senator Clinton's candidacy is not premised on her ability to carry a tune," said her spokesman, Howard Wolfson. "We did not see it as a significant threat." John Edwards, one of her main Democratic rivals, faced the same dilemma when an old video reappeared on YouTube, showing him fussing with his hair and makeup for two minutes before a television interview. Mr Edwards is sometimes parodied for his immaculate coiffure, but his internet strategists also decided to let the moment pass. Not so the advisers to John McCain, a leading Republican candidate, who was shown doing what one commentator dubbed a "Rip van Winkle" during President George W Bush's recent State of the Union address. Sen McCain, 70, is the oldest candidate in the race and is sensitive to suggestions that he is too old, so his apparent snooze as President Bush talked about Iraq had damaging implications. The Arizona senator's operatives insisted that he was merely looking down at a copy of the speech and quickly posted footage of him listening with interest to the address - and clips of other politicians looking equally sleepy as they too scanned the text. Howard Dean, the early Democrat frontrunner in 2004, was a trailblazer in cyber-campaigning, harnessing the power of the internet to raise funds and secure support before his presidential bid imploded. This year, all the candidates have secured the services of internet strategists, and spreading a message through the world of websites and blogs is a campaign tactic. The new factor is the prolific use of web video, creating an anarchic electoral battleground that is anathema to political consultants who try to micro-manage campaigns. Several candidates, including Sen Clinton and her Democrat rival, Barack Obama, launched their campaigns with online videos. But in the world of American politics, where attack ads and dirty tricks are a way of life, the first YouTube presidential campaign offers the prospect of many surprises. During last year's Senate campaign, Brent Blackaby worked as the online strategy consultant to Jim Webb, the combative Democrat running in Virginia against the clear favourite, George Allen, the Republican incumbent. Mr Blackaby and colleagues hit the jackpot when the Webb campaign sent some shaky footage to their Blackrock Associates offices. It showed an irascible Mr Allen calling a Webb supporter, who was trailing him with a small video camera, a "macaca", an archaic racial slur thought to derive from African macaque monkeys. The target of his insult was a young Indian. "There were already rumours about Allen's views, so we immediately recognised how powerful this would be," Mr Blackaby told The Sunday Telegraph. "It was a pretty easy decision to post this on YouTube." The Allen campaign never recovered and he eventually lost the contest, handing the Democrats control of the Senate by a single seat. Inspired by the example, Republican and Democrat activists are already scouring the video histories of 2008 candidates for any hint of inconsistency, hypocrisy or weakness. But Mr Blackaby is also enthusiastic about the positive impact of online video-sharing. "It is going to make campaigning more democratic and immediate, and candidates will have to be more responsive." Watch the gaffes by the White House wannabes telegraph.co.uk/news
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#1. To: Eoghan (#0)
Well Edwards does have nice hair.
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