High tech politics!

The stakes are high, the means to the end are as diverse and hi-tech as you can imagine. 

We've already seen how the electorate can be mobilized, and how millions of dollars of funds were raised a few dollars at a time on the Internet, via candidate sites like ww.barackobama.com and www.hillaryclinton.com. 

Now, raise that one level. Obama is apparently running an ad within the video game Burnout Paradise. I think that's a fantastic idea, especially if getting that disinterested voter off his couch is important.

I also learned that Governor Mark Warner apparently did a press event on Second Life - that's pretty cool too! The idea there - go to the electorate if the electorate will not come to you. That could be a mountain of votes!

I guess this actually works because these candidates just TALK  - they don't DO much online! If they did, there would be  a lot of stuff that would be censored, given that some of these powerful people use their power and influence in, shall we say, creative ways?

Maybe that's really the application for virtual worlds, such as Second Life and Lively, in politics. Keep the bad stuff in the fake world!