During the impossible and endless 2008 election season, America had a series of firsts. Above all there was the duration of the race itself. The candidates were running for one seat in early 2007, when voters were assured it would be a Rudy Giuliani-Hillary Clinton run for the White House. Needless to say, more than a year and a half later, many expectations and barriers were broken. When Barack Obama was finally elected president at the end of it all, we had witnessed the rise of a gigantic class of “political junkies” for whom no amount of news is enough.
You could see the conservatives debate on Fox. You could see the MSNBC anchors tilted to the left. You could even see Wolf Blitzer trying to stay neutral with accusations from both sides (he behaved quite well). Above all, it was the first presidential election in which the Internet played an unmistakable role. In 2004 there was a great influence of the web in the battle of John Kerry and George Bush. The difference is that Barack Obama would not be president without him. In addition to the countless blogs, newspaper sites, running commentaries, YouTube videos, commercials, and speech copies, we saw Obama reach out to even the most rural voters online and get them to respond. With small donations from all over the country and volunteers driving through strange towns, he built the political machine capable of defeating first the powerful Clintons and then the Republican challenge.
Being a political junkie these days takes time, dedication, and of course, high-speed internet. The many updates and blog posts online will keep you busy while you can stay focused. If you live outside the urban network, satellite Internet will be your best option to stay informed. You can keep up with all the big sites like Huffingtonpost.com and have updates automatically forwarded to one of five available email accounts with a typical satellite package. A satellite broadband connection will allow you to log on to CNN.com and watch the news live all day long and follow the fascinating discussions on “The Cafferty File.” Disgruntled Jack Cafferty, who makes a daily cameo in the Situation Room, lashes out at politicians in office and has a lively dialogue with viewers and readers online.
Or watch the latest speeches on YouTube.com. YouTube’s big moment came during the 2006 Virginia Senate race, which pitted Democrat Jim Webb against powerful incumbent George Allen. Allen, then a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, was filmed making racially insensitive comments to a Webb employee, who later posted the video on YouTube. A story covering this event would have caused a sensation. But the first-hand document itself? It was more like a tsunami. The YouTube sensation marked the beginning of the end of Allen’s political career. He was ousted by Webb in November in what was once a guaranteed victory. This is what people mean when they say that the Internet has changed everything. To view this and other important documents of our time, you need download speeds of at least 756 kbs / s for the video to render cleanly on your computer screen. When deciding whether washingtonpost.com or nytimes.com is your home page, you are up for debate which one is the best. When it comes to a political junkie at home deciding on an internet connection, satellite broadband is the only option.