While having a Myspace page has become standard practice in the ’08 presidential race, designing them
correctly seems to be another hurtle altogether.
Rather than offer an inclusive comparison of all the features from the candidates’ Myspace pages, I will focus only on the “top friends” feature.
I understand that something like “top friends” may not seem crucial to the overall campaign, but it does speak to both the candidates’ understanding of the medium and their effort invested in connecting with young voters.
The largest flub the candidates have committed is choosing only politically-sponsored groups to be their top friends. The primary offenders of this are: Edwards, Giuliani, Obama and McCain.
There are also several candidates that appear to not have put much energy into their pages, especially the ‘top friends’ consideration. (Tancredo and Biden show exceptional laziness in this category)
Notables
- Mike Huckabee’s top friends include a little boy with a bible titled “Pray for Mike”, and an image of three large-breasted woman with small tees titled “Fair Tax” – it seems not even the candidates can resist from adding a hot mama or two to their friends.
- Duncan Hunter's top friends include the small of a women’s tattooed back titled “Cash Baq” and Myspace founder "Tom", who automatically appears unless the effort is taken to remove him.
- Bill Richardson snagged John Stewart, who arguably holds more weight than any other endorser.
- Chriss Dodd boasts singer actress Christy Romano as one of his top friends.
- Denis Kucinich has Willie Nelson, Ani Difranco and Writers Guild of America as his top friends.
- Mike Gravel seems to have taken his top friends more seriously. His list includes independent news broadcast “Democracy Now!”, intellectual Noam Chomsky and a “Green Energy Now!”profile.
The ‘top friends’ area is a clear way to display the influencer's—politicians, intellectuals, singers, actors—who support your campaigns. The sad truth is that in the new American political scene, one can garner votes simply by having the appropriate celebrity endorsement. So why not play the game appropriately? Let the people know who has your vote, and you may get ours.
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