YouTube Gives Voice to Third Party

Update: D’oh! I confused Paul’s “limited government” take and maverick position for that of the Libertarian Party. As multiple commenters have pointed out, he’s actually a member of the Grand Old Party. This is what I get for missing the primary debates. Though this doesn’t change the fact that he’s more popular on YouTube than any other Republican candidate. Hopefully YouTube will choose to include third party candidates in the future.

Libertarian Republican Party presidential candidate and Texan Congressman Ron Paul has gotten more channel views than Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Rudy Giuliani combined. A quick search for “Ron Paul” also shows tons of non-campaign videos getting significant views (for instance, an interview with dorm room pundit James Kotecki).

Here’s the latest from Ron Paul campaign, “Freedom is Popular” where he rhetorically explains his online appeal. The “unbelievably fleet-footed” Barack Obama has twice again as many views as Paul, however (Obama is at least surprisingly fleet-footed).

Jokes aside, the fact that he’s listed alongside Democrats and Republicans on their “YouChoose ’08” page certainly shows the site isn’t wedded to the two-party system the way networks are — though he’s the lone third-party candidate represented. One hopes they’ll eventually include everyone from the Greens to the Reds.

There’s no guarantee that online popularity will translate into campaign contributions, mainstream media exposure, a place at the podium in debates or, ultimately, votes. After all, YouTube’s demographic skews young, and in the 2004 election, while voter turnout for 18- to 24-year-olds surged 37 percent over 2000 [PDF], the turnout was still below the national average and accounted for fewer than 10 percent of ballots cast.

Thanks to Mark Day for the tip. Update: Sorry to readers and Day for my less than astute follow-up research.

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