The Internet is How You Know Who Your Friends Are

As people await the results of tonight's Pennsylvania primary, it is interesting to look back at this hotly contested state and the role that endorsements may ultimately be shown to play. Once traditionally disseminated through press releases, newspaper ads or editorials, or speeches staged as news events, endorsements have now migrated to digital media as well. An interesting case in point is the endorsement of endorsement of Barack Obama by former Clinton cabinet member Robert Reich on his Blogspot blog. In contrast, Bill Richardson made his endorsement of Obama with more public fanfare and TV coverage alongside the candidate in a stump speech that has been circulated widely through online video. These one-to-many media events on the Internet, whether through text or moving image, don't invite response, although in the case of the reactions of Clinton loyalist James Carville, they may get it nonetheless.