On the Electronic Campaign Trail, Politicians Realize the Potential of Web Video

This is what I'm thinking about today. Namely, why does this matter? Who are they reaching? Will turnout be higher in 2008 because of things like this, or is this a response to the assumption that turnout will be higher?

At times like this, I wish I were a pundit. Mostly because that would be a cool title to have. But also because I would care enough to make some prognostication about who will win each party's nomination in, oh, 19 months. Just to put that in perspective, Gabe will be four times older than he is now at the time of the conventions. And the Red Wings will have two more Stanley Cups.

It would be remiss of me to not cover the weather. It snowed for the first time this winter yesterday. It was Gabe's first time to see snow. Since we're overprotective, he didn't go outside to see it or touch it. But it looked nice in the yard from the window. Come to think of it, I didn't even touch it until I walked to the bus stop this morning. By Virginia law, all activity must cease while snow is falling. So when I went to Trader Joe's yesterday morning, it was packed. I always wanted to meet the people who stock up on samosas and chicken apple sausage before a "snowstorm." Well, yesterday I got to.

So the buildup of no snow/ice until now meant that the local media got to unleash three storms worth of coverage on this one. It is worth noting that a normal storm here probably gets three to five times the coverage it would anywhere else. And to clarify, a storm in DC equals at least three flakes of snow. That gigantic "Storm Tracker" or "Snow Machine" graphic, with the information bar taking up 30 percent of the screen - you know the one. We get that if there's a chance it might snow. It did snow hard for a few hours. It was great to watch Your NFC Champion Chicago Bears while it was cold and snowy here. So that's the next topic, right? Right.