Friday Fun: John Edwards is Everywhere

Due to the fact all the big primaries for Campaign 2008 are so heavily frontloaded, presidential campaigns are pretty much in full swing now, much earlier than usual. So, for at least a few months we’ll occaisionally hear from the leading candidates as they might come by to the Bay Area once in a while.
Don’t for a moment expect that a February primary, designed mostly to give Arnold and the Legislature more terms in office, will mean small-scale events with the candidates in town-hall like settings (i.e. like in Iowa or New Hampshire in the Olden Days). Instead, look for mostly high dollar events, with some notable exceptions, such as that big rally Obama is holding next week in Oakland.
That doesn’t mean you can’t get involved. And, if you’re looking to support John Edwards, well, you don’t have far to look. It seems like you can’t swing a dead (virtual) cat without finding his campaign somwhere online at just about every social networking site there is. Heck, he’s even on Twitter! The Edwards campaign even has a space on SecondLife! (I wonder if you can make a campaign donation in Linden Dollars?)
All joking aside, it’s pretty amazing to see how far national political campaigns have come in their use of the various technologies enabled by the Internet. It was not too long ago when campaign websites were an expensive, usually useless, and annoying sideshow, bolted on to an older way of doing things. Today, not being on MySpace, much less the Internet, is almost inconceiveable for any serious candidate.
Just watch out for that virtual feces on SecondLife and you’ll be ok!