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Edwards Seeks Online Feeds of Video (and Dollars)
By Michael Kranish
Globe Staff
WASHINGTON _ John Edwards has had his problems with YouTube, the popular Internet video site. One clip that shows him fixing his hair, to the music of "I feel pretty," had been viewed more than 600,000 times as of today, while another that shows him talking about Iraq had been viewed less than 4,000 times.
But Edwards today embarked on a unique effort to try to turn YouTube to his advantage that could have wide repercussions in the 2008 presidential campaign. He asked voters to upload video clips that can be incorporated into an online version of an ad in which he urges Congress to resend President Bush the same bill regarding US troop withdrawal from Iraq that Bush vetoed on Tuesday.
The solicitation of the videos may prove to be an innovative way to involve voters _ and to collect contributions. Edwards is asking supporters to chip in $100,000 in 24 hours to put an antiwar ad on television. The television is professionally produced with unpaid supporters; the online version will include the YouTube submissions, a campaign spokesman said.
The effort also signals a strategic effort by Edwards, who has apologized for voting for the war when he was a US senator, to toughen his anti-war position in comparison to some of his rivals.
It is widely expected that Democrats will fail to gain enough Republican support to override Bush's veto of the bill. If that happens, many Democrats have said they would support sending a different bill to Bush that would include funding for the Iraq war without the controversial timeline for troop withdrawal. That could put two of Edwards' competitors, Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in the position of voting on a bill that would effectively fund the continuation of the war.
Edwards is "clearly trying to carve out for himself the role, as the point guy, for people who want to take on Bush, figuring that the two front runners, Clinton and Obama, are going to be more cautious," political analyst Stuart Rothenberg said. Rothenberg said Edwards might draw initial support in the way Howard Dean did by raising money online with an anti-war message four years ago. But he said Edwards risks looking like he is willing to leave troops without the necessary funding.
"This is an all-hands-on-deck moment," Edwards wrote in an email sent yesterday to potential contributors. "I need you to pitch in $5, $50, $500 or whatever you can manage to rush this ad on the D.C. airwaves in the next 24 hours."
Edwards campaign spokesman Eric Schultz said that he didn't know yet how many people have submitted videos or contributions.
"John Edwards is using technology to spread the American people's message and the more people who join us the louder that message will be," Schultz said.
The power of YouTube can help as well as hurt campaigns. In addition to the clip of Edwards primping for a television appearance _ a video that gained new popularity after it was reported that Edwards had paid $400 for a haircut _ YouTube was the source for an ad that attacked Hillary Clinton by borrowing from a famous Apple Computer television ad about Big Brother.
