Edwards “Demand and Be Heard” Eventful.com Contest Video Reappears!

Yesterday, as a case for using systems other than YouTube as your primary web video outlet (post to all of them), I posted a disappearing video from the Edwards campaign about their contest on Eventful.com, called Demand and Be Heard. The video has been revived, and is posted above. I’ve cast my vote, and hope to see the former Senator on his way to Los Angeles – which is now in the lead. California’s newly minted “early” status has given me great chances to see more of these candidates than I have in past elections. I savor every visit!

In that same post, I also referenced a missing Edwards video featuring a call from the candidate to his wife Elizabeth. The video had popped up long enough to appear on PrezVid.com, and greetings to those of you finding your way here via that site’s generous link.

ReelPolitik notices that the Edwards campaign has taken down the video I wrote about the other day showing the candidate asking his wife permission to go to a basketball game under the proudly snarky headline, ‘Will he ask for permission to invade Iran?‘ Click on the video now and it’s “private.” Ah, but there is no private in a presidential campaign. ReelPolitik asks: “Did Jarvis’ snark drive this video into privacy?” Well, if so, that’d be silly. The Edwards video was the first spark I saw of a candidate being just a little loose on the little camera. If someone in the campaign tries to sanitize, script, and spin that, they’re missing the point of the medium. Put the video back up. What’s the harm in looking human? (PrezVid)

I don’t find Jeff Jarvis all that scary, and doubt Joe Trippi and the Edwards team do either. Yet Jarvis’ headline RE: Iran was an example of the “Gotcha Culture” Trippi has been taking to task in recent talks on candidate web videos.

Like many others, I hope for more of the behind the curtain looks like the Edwards campaign gave – however temporarily. But, it’s important for those of us who ask for them to not turn them into an opportunity to take pot shots…lest the access disappear.

In a way, I feel lucky to have seen the “Phone Call” clip…perhaps that is a potential strategy for campaign video creators such as myself. Put things up for just a limited time. Make interesting enough that when they disappear people post about it on their blogs…hmmmm….

While we’re talking Edwards the folks at the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights gave their big award of the year to Elizabeth Edwards. Here’s video of her speech (in two parts):