Election 2008

Can I just say that as the last person in a fully developed country that doesn't have cable OR high definition television, the internet is like a treasure trove for me? This morning I went on YouTube and caught the highlights of last nights South Carolina debates, checked out some blogs to get people's reactions and joined my candidate's support group on Facebook.

TIME Magazine recently dedicated 12 pages to exploring how service and volunteering can transform America. The Special Report, Time To Serve - The Case for National Service examines why service is important to America, highlights activists already making waves on the ground, and proposes a 10-point plan to create a "universal national service" in the U.S.

In November 2008, I will be casting my vote for President for the 5th time in my life. I have had some winners and some losers. I have even had one where my vote didn't even count. Some guy named Harry Browne or something like that. Now that I am older, I look back on those "hanging chads" and wonder if the vote I casted the right one. Of course, I can't answer that, because every time I poked a hole in the in the yellow piece paper, the "chad" I left hanging was an uninformed one. It was not because I didn't know anything about the candidates. It was because I only knew the propaganda.

Internet video is leading the way to a new era in communication. Video has changed the way we apply for jobs, how we watch the daily news, and now how we interview our Presidential candidates.

Barack sent me another email this week. He wants me to have dinner with him. Lunch, maybe, but dinner I'm not sure I'm that serious about him yet. Hillary is still writing to me and I still haven't told her I'm upset about that whole Michael Moore/Sicko thing. I just wish they would both give me a little time to sort though all this. It's just too much, too fast.

While Al Gore may have invented the Internet, it was Howard "arghhhh!" Dean who first realized its potential for drumming up support in a Presidential campaign. He took the other candidates by surprise when he started the first campaign blog in 2003. Candidates today are now betting that MySpace is the next big thing. In addition to their own websites, most candidates now have MySpace pages and are ready and waiting to add you as a friend.