Dems Use Edgy Films to Rally Youth Voters
A new political group creates a series of edgy and youth-oriented films.
June 11, 2008 — -- A stunning 20-something woman hooks up with a seemingly innocent guy at a rowdy singles bar. Hot foreplay starts on the cab ride home and progresses into the bedroom.
That is until, while searching for a condom in the bedside table, she sees a photo signed "Thanks for your support!" from Republican candidate John McCain.
Horrified, she bolts, dropping her bag and spilling a campaign button on the sidewalk: "I only sleep with Democrats." The camera quickly cuts to a cool, bespectacled man with a donkey pin on his lapel. The couple's eyes lovingly lock.
"Blue Balled" -- an edgy, video short distributed on YouTube and other Web sites this week -- has a simple message: If you vote Democrat, you are intellectual, hip and savvy. If you vote Republican, you are an untouchable -- bumbling, square and uptight.
Did we forget to mention that McCain's adoring fan knocked over his beer at the bar, offered his erstwhile one-night-stand a Johnny Walker Red and lined up his shoes at the bedroom door before jumping into the sack?
The Democrat's drop-dead gorgeous face was framed with hip, wire-rimmed glasses and luscious, well-groomed locks.
The video, created by the new political organization TruthThroughAction.org, is one more affirmation that the Internet is a central character in the 2008 presidential race.
The blue-leaning nonprofit was founded by New York filmmakers Joshua Sugarman and Brandon Yankowitz of YaSu Media, who are producing a series of short films and online videos. The "527" group is, unlike political action committees, exempt from contribution limits.
"We're making products that we think young voters are more likely to e-mail to their friends, to post to their friends," Sugarman told ABCNEWS.com "Our products have a message but are also entertaining as film projects, and we don't think anybody else is doing the same thing."
Like the "Obama Girl" video, which spread virally last year, "Blue Balled" is intended to rally the indie community and young political activists to support the Democrats in November. The group plans to produce more than a dozen films of all genres, each with an "edge and a clever hook."
