YouTube Hardly Influences Texas Election

Texas, the great state on the United States southern border, had a very interesting campaign season with the top executive office being hotly contested. The incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry was being challenged in his reelection bid by Democrat Chris Bell, who hoped to ring the Governor's on election night.

Adding a independent tone was maverick Republican Carol Keeton Strayhorn who worked-her-way-out of the legendary lariat-wrapped Texas State Republican Party 's "disipline" to run on her own. "The Hammer, Tom Delay" was missed by the Texas Republican Party staff, he was the engineer of their recent decade of success at the polls.
Country Western singer and mystery writer, Kinky Freedman added a wild card truely libertarian cigar smoke to the smoldering mesquite of the campaign barbecues.

Meanwhile, to the northeast in Virginia, the most notable contest was that for United States Senator which had the broadcast, print and Internet media in an absolute frenzy of media coverage. It was truely remarkable that a sparsely-attended campaign speech for Virginia's State Republican Party regulars, the "true believers", could cause so much electrons, ink and paper to be expended.

Enter YouTube. Ah yes, YouTube, the "Main Stream Medias" summertime delight, for they love a good story during the "dog days" when a lot of readers and viewers are on vacation.

At this otherwise unremarkable campaign event where the Republican senatorial candidate would get to "press the flesh" (can I say that on a family Internet site?) and sow the seeds of campaign donations to be harvested for the fall elections was a interloper. A paid Democratic Party staffer was there in the audience videotaping the Republican candidtaes speech who spotted him doing that. The candidate was bemused by the Democratic Party staffer taping him and made several remarks to the videographer. "All's fair in love and"...politics also. If you are easily offended don't toss your "head into the ring" as Borat would say.

The Democratic Party videographer, Internet-wise as he was posted one of the remarks on the video Internet site, YouTube and this was the "racial insult" heard-around-the-world.

The remark was so obscure that it took a historical investigation to determine it's meaning and country of origin!
This remark was described as a vile reminder of our country's racist past (and present, in some person's minds) and was played not only on YouTube but on the television network's new shows and repeatedly on the "News Magazines" also where commentary damaging the campaign of Virginia Republican Senate candidate.
YouTube was estatic with the two-hundred fifty thousand views the short video received.

The Texas campaign was a typical dull political version of kids playing in a mud puddle.

Enter CBS "60 Minutes" News Magazine. The sunday evening three-segment program has been a television guest in America's homes since even before the "Simpson's", that other long-running commentary on what is most important to American's

"60 minutes" did a segment on Kinky Freedman and his campaign for the Governor's Office in Texas. Kinky Freedman lives on a ranch and loves his ol' bluetick hound was the theme of the interview.

"60 Minutes" is YouTube on steriods. "60 Minutes" has a regular audience of "Highly Likely to Vote" older adults, averaging 14 million viewers every week. YouTube's audience is made up of students and young adults who are not generally regarded as habitual voters, although "Rock the Vote" campaigns have claimed to convince a couple of million Rock music aficionados to vote.

What were the results of the Texas Governor's Race? Incumbent Republican Rick Perry won with 1,714,618 votes,
39%, not a very good showing, but enough to win.

Democrat Chris Bell had 1,309,744 voters x his pixels, 29.8% of the vote, in a tough state lately for the Democrats.
Very Independent Kinky Freedman, rounded-up 553,327 voters in his corral, if added to Democrat Chris Bell's election day tally would have give him1,863,071 votes, a margin of 148,453 that would have made him the new Governor of Texas.

"60 Minutes" ran the Kinky segment twice, once as a "summer rerun." Out of the fourteen million national viewers, perhaps the 553,327 Texas viewers were persuaded by the mystery author's "regular ol'cowboy on the next ranch" image to not vote for the Democratic candidate as they usually would. Thus are elections decided in America.