I heard about this and stole the title from Seth Godin, just so you know.

John Edwards pre-anounced that we would be running for president on YouTube. The image is small and the video quality is only so-so. If it’s a prepared speech, he did a poor job of delivering it as there are a number of incorrect pauses and double clutches throughout. I think I even caught a couple of “ums” and “ahs”. The lighting is bad. I had a hard time telling if his face was dirty from actually working or whether it was just a poorly lit image. It literally looks like he he just got pulled aside from helping the kids in the background so that he could say a few words.

In short, by normal campaign video standards, this one is amateurish and crappy. And it’s perfect.

Perfect because it takes the focus off the usual glitz and glamor and puts it squarely on what he is saying. Nothing in a campaign is unscripted, and I sincerely doubt this is the exception, but of all the scripted “unscripted” moments I’ve seen in campaigns over the years, this one hits the target the closest. There’s no music playing over it, no makeup artist, bad lighting, poor video quality and just about everything else that truly make this look like it’s some guy passionately delivering a message rather than a candidate running for office.

So far, I’m reasonably impressed. This actually indicates to me that Edwards’ team gets YouTube. It’s not a rebroadcast of his official announcement (though I’m certain that’s on there) and it’s not just a collection of his campaign commercials (though I’m certain those are coming). It is, instead, something akin to the extra contents on a DVD - something original just for the folks who find it.

Let’s hope Edwards is as good a candidate as his marketing team so far makes him out to be.