Word: mccains
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...cycle got its most vigorous workout during the whirlwind introduction of Sarah Palin. John McCain's Veep passed from surprise (who is this woman?) to novelty (beauty queen who shoots moose) to scandal (her daughter's pregnant) to obituary (will McCain drop her?) to resurrection (she's a pit bull with lipstick) to skepticism (but can she appeal beyond the base?) at the speed of a snowmobile...
...nontraditional media have also controlled the tone of the debate. The blogosphere joined talk radio as a driver of issues and stories. McCain faced some of his toughest interviews of the campaign on David Letterman and The View. And while Katie Couric grilled Palin on CBS, it was Tina Fey's impression that seared the moment into the national consciousness. (Palin impersonations were also among the hottest genres on YouTube.) The Daily Show was, as in 2000 and 2004, the election's dominant running commentary...
...campaigns, meanwhile, also learned to use new media to keep the news monster appeased. Web ads were the Molotov cocktails of campaign 2008: quick, cheap and explosive--the more outrageous, the more likely to get embedded on blogs and played for free on the news. One zany McCain ad, made around Obama's summer trip to Europe, likened Obama to actor (and pop star in Germany) David Hasselhoff. Attention-getting? Definitely. Comprehensible? Does it matter...
...McCain in many ways ran a campaign more in sync than Obama's with the 24-minute cycle. The media wanted drama, and he gave it to them. Here's a surprise V.P.! Here's a new message! My campaign's off! It's back on! Obama, for all his campaign's use of social networking, online fund-raising and e-mail-rumor debunking, ran a comparatively sedate media campaign...
...know yet which strategy worked. But the pundits who have analyzed the candidates' styles may be missing something. McCain has promised a "steady hand on the tiller"; Obama, a cool head in a crisis. I suspect that part of what the country wants after more than a year of rabid electotainment is a firm hand on the volume dial--a calming response not just to the economy or to partisanship but also to the incessant shrieking, browbeating, Chicken Littling of the media. They want someone to push not Refresh but Pause...