Barack Obama ran a very successful campaign for the Presidency (obviously!), part of that campaign was his utilisation of a whole host of modern communication techniques.  This ranged from having his own Flickr account giving a behind the scenes look to his campaign, to the effective use of YouTube – on election day alone the Obama campaign uploaded 14 videos!  They uploaded more than 1,800 over the whole campaign.  Of course the most famous use of modern technology by the Obama campaign was the way the VP pick was announced – by text message.

But it wasn’t just the Campaign’s use of these technologies that marked out this campaign against the ones gone before, supporters and supporting organisations have also used them to great impact.  Some of the biggest Youtube successes during the last year have been related to either Obama and McCain.  But it was mainly Obama that benefited from this support.  Perhaps the most famous YouTube video was by Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas.  His “Yes We Can” video has been viewed more than 13 million times.  His new video “It’s a New Day” (below) looks set to be another big success.

But it’s not just the use of technology that made Obama a modern candidate, there’s something about him that appealed to a new generation of voters.  Whether that was his age, or something else i’m not sure, but Obama certainly connected with this new generation in so many ways that McCain could never have hoped to.  This is clear just from Obama’s coverage in places like Rolling Stone magazine.  Obama has been on the cover of Rolling Stone three times in seven months, this is unprecedented, not just for a politician but for a musician.  Only John Lennon had the same number of covers in the same period.

The only question that remains is whether Obama can now be a modern President.

So its nearly 5am in the Uk and I’m about to call it a night knowing that not only is Barack Obama the President Elect, but that he’s won in a big way, bigger than I dared hope for.

My prediction for the electoral college was 330 which frankly I thought was overly-optimistic yet he already has 338 with a good chance of winning a few more states. One pundit on the BBC is even predicting his final result could be as high as 374 with 54% of the popular vote!!

I’m so glad I stayed up for the whole night to see this happen. I’m going to watch Obama’s victory speech and then I’m heading to bed for some much needed sleep.

In preparation for an election night party i’m going to, I made these Obama cupcakes today.  When I say made, I really mean bought the cakes and then put the icing on top  I really don’t have the time to be baking from scratch.

So I promised the next few days would see quite a few election posts and here’s the first.  A rally was organised in Parliament Square today to show support for Obama.

Somewhere between 75-100 Obama-supporting American’s turned up, despite the awful weather.  It was a great atmosphere, and the closest thing to a real Obama rally i’m ever going to see.  Even though they are all living in the UK these guys are determined to see Obama elected on Tuesday.

I was going to try and limit the number of videos I linked to up to November 4th, but I just couldn’t resist posting this song I saw today on YouTube.  It’s both clever and funny!

The next four days will be dominated by the election, and it will be no different on this blog.  Even though I’m British i’m a massive Obama fan and really want to see him in the White House.  Over the next few days there will undoubtedly be a number of election posts.  It will all start with photos from an Obama rally in London tomorrow.

A few weeks ago I posted a video of a group of celebrities sarcastically urging people not to vote.  Well I found out today the same people have a done a second, follow up video.

Like the last one i’ve got no idea whether this sort of thing actually has an impact (i’m sure someone’s done a study), but it seems good to me!  There’s also a voting song!

My dream job is to be a Photojournalist, i’d love it!  And the thing i’d love to photograph more than anything else would be a US Presidential election.  Sadly I can’t exactly see that happening anytime soon.  

So I was pretty pleased when I heard today of a new photography exhibition in London called My America which focuses on the Presidential election (2004 and 08).  The photographer Chris Morris, made his name in War photography but has now turned his lens on Presidential Politics.  Along with the exhibition (which i’m going to see this weekend) he also has a new book out.  I can’t wait to see it.  The gallery’s website is www.hostgallery.co.uk  

You can also see a video about the exhibition here

UPDATE – I would definitely recommend the exhibition.  It is quite a small gallery, but its a great selection of photography.  So good in fact I bought the accompanying book.  I actually had the whole gallery to myself.

During the American Presidential campaign there has been a remarkable amount of music inspired by the two candidates, overwhelmingly for Obama but a couple for McCain.  This weekend I came across a couple of new videos that I really liked, both very different, but equally good.

First up is “Vote for Hope” by MC Yogi.  Not someone I’ve heard of before, but I think it’s probably one of the best pro-Obama songs there’s been so far.

If you like the song you can actually download it for free here.  The second one is actually from this weekends Saturday Night Live and one of the segments Sarah Palin was in.  The rap performed by Amy Poehler was absolutely hilarious!

Though as a side note, what was the point of Palin’s appearance on SNL?  She didn’t really take part in any of the sketches, just stood there on the fringes, she might as well have stayed at home!

I thought both Candidates were on good form last night at the Al Smith Dinner, with both having some very funny lines.  McCain surprised me because I never imagined him being able to tell a joke or being funny!  Saying that I stil thought Obama was the more entertaining of the two.

This sort of thing would never happen in the UK!!  Our politicians might tell the odd self-depricating joke, but never a whole speech!

Have just seen this brilliant video featuring loads of celebrities encouraging young people to vote.

Youth voter participation is extremely low around the world, and mobilising the youth vote can sometimes be virtually impossible.  The last general election in the UK saw roughly 40% of eligible voters under 25 actually get to the polling station.  In some parts of the country that figure is much lower!  So i’m glad to see efforts like this video to encourage young Americans to register to vote.  I’d like to see similar things at the next UK election.

Anyway back to the video, my favourite lines by far were -

Who cares that the polar ice caps are melting…I hear polar bears can swim!

Because who gives a shit about Terrorism?

You can literally register to vote while you’re pooping…if you have a laptop!