I Heart Huckabee

I'm wondering how much it costs to become a "cool new person" on MySpace, because the third slot is reserved for presidential candidates. Something doesn't sit well with me on this. Maybe MySpace is doing it as a public service for all candidates on a rotating basis? (Just hit "refresh" and they change.)

How effective can this be as far as gaining support? So if I'm a friend of Jenny and I see that Jenny has Tommy Thompson as a friend, am I now swayed to get on the Tommy Thompson bandwagon? Will Jenny and I begin discussing the merits of the Tommy Thompson tax reform proposal? I don't think that's how it works, and I don't think the candidates are gong to be successful in turning social networking sites into the "national conversation" they all want to have with us. (Oh, to sit down for a cup of coffee with Hillary and just chat.)

One campaign staffer in one desperate campaign said, "We should be on MySpace!" and then they all followed suit, lest they look "out of touch." Perhaps it's just about "impressions" and the candidates hoping for a little more name recognition. I don't know. It's probably just me, but I'd feel pretty stupid having Dennis Kucinich or Rudy Gulliani as a friend of mine on MySpace.

And as long as we're talking about the the marketing of candidates, I have some advice for all of you with silly names: Get out now. The electorate is shallow. They won't stand for a president named Tommy Thompson. That sounds like the name of some bully on the playground in a third grade reader. How old are you now, Tommy? Maybe we can switch to plain old "Tom?" Also Mike Huckabee; just way too easy to make fun of. Can't you hear the kids taunting, "Huckabee, Suckabee, F..." It's like when you're choosing a name for your child, you want to be very careful and imagine it on an office door 30 years in the future. Ladies and Gentleman, President Bambi-Jo Backwater. See? Not good.