Ohio House 20th: Campbell (D) Shows How To Use YouTube

Boy, I really want to see more Democratic General Assembly candidates do what Bev Campbell (D-Gahanna) has done in her race for the 20th District seat held by Rep. Jim McGregor (R-Gahanna)!

Campbell has uploaded a video of a short speech to YouTube and embedded the link on her campaign web site. The speech isn't made for TV (she's talking to a local gathering in New Albany) and it doesn't get into a lot of substance, but it's upbeat and fun to watch and it conveys her personality and determination. Here's the movie:

[I have removed the embedded link, but the video is available here.]

Campbell has quality professionals helping her with her site, but YouTube itself is free and easy to use. It accepts videos in .AVI, .MOV and .MPG formats, which covers most movies shot on digital cameras and even cell phones. On my Olympus C-7000 camera I get the best results by setting the movie function to the lowest resolution and using a tripod. I can record and upload almost five minutes of video before hitting the upload limit of 99 MB. I can edit the movie (at least, select the beginning and ending points) right on my camera.

Its a slamdunk strategy for General Assembly candidates trying to squeeze the most out of their campaign dollars. Web site visitors like audiovisual content, as long as it's not overdone, and the embedded link allows them to see the movie without leaving the site.