If you've been following the US political scene over the last 24 hrs you'll see that there's a new candidate in the presidential race - John Edwards.
What's more interesting to note is that he's the one who will be using social media the most to amplify his support amongst the digerati. And after a few days of murmurs on the blog of Robert Scoble about his move into the world of politics, he has made an announcement too, written up here in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Tech Chronicles has confirmed with Robert Scoble that he's embarking on an out-of-state trip into the world of politics: He's been invited to help former Democratic VP candidate John Edwards announce his presidential bid in New Orleans tomorrow. He flies out today."
Scoble will yield great power in the political scene, and many are saying this is a smart move on both sides. Scoble is disclosing everything on his blog, and says he's not so much an adviser, rather an observer. "Is this a sign of "you" politics?" asks the Chroncle? "Scoble thinks so. He points to a New York Times article that says Edwards is arguably the most Web-savvy candidate in the 2008 race and that he will use Thursday's event to gin up support via the Internet."
This graph I just ran off shows that Edwards has been historically getting about half the share of voice from social media as his rivals. It will be interesting to see how that will now change, and how much that will impact opinion polls. Valleywag says Scoble is Buddha-like and that his blogging single-handedly humanised Microsoft, insinuating this one man can boost Edwards' campaign. Well from sheer blog chatter in the last few hours he seems to be making a significant impact.
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