We've recently crested past the one year mark in America. That's right. We've now less than one year left of Presidential campaigning. You thought you had seen everything so far in terms of hotly contested YouTube debates and 10 (or more) questions. Now, Fred Thompson wants to Hollywood it up a bit.
Sean Hackbarth, of the Fred Thompson campaign, sent me an email yesterday essentially stating that not only is Fred Thompson a lawyer, but he played one on TV, citing his appearances in In the Line of Fire, The hunt for the Red October, Die Hard 2, and Law and Order. As such, he recognizes the value of "star power" in spreading the word about why "Fred will make a great, conservative President."
Essentially, Fred wants to create the next Chris Crocker or Star Wars Kid by surveying the roster of YouTube-worthy talent in his support base, have his fans vote for the favorites, and then promote the heck out of them, and by proxy Fred (ostensibly on YouTube, although I wouldn't rule out traditional TV ads).
All you need to do is upload your video, and stay tuned to Fred08.com to vote yourself up. He's looking for positive videos about himself, trying to stay away from attack ads against his competitors.
All this brings up an interesting question: which candidates are the best at marketing and truly engaging the online world? Fred Thompson has shown a consistent ability (even before he became a presidential contender) to make a splash online; the YouTube response to Michael Moore comes to mind. Ron Paul supporters, I think, hands down probably win the prize on firing on all cylinders, in terms of utilizing the Internet for their candidate (regardless of how you regard the candidate).