It's not unusual for people to look for political laughs during a combative presidential campaign. What is unusual about the 2004 race is where they looked -- the Internet.
From the commander in chief cartwheeling with a pink bow on his head to Sens. John F. Kerry and John Edwards exchanging teen-lust glances, satiric images of both candidates on the Internet clogged millions of e-mail inboxes this campaign season. To be sure, people still looked to TV comics for a daily dose of political satire, but the Web often provided source material -- as well as filling computer screens with images that roundly skewered both candidates.
The standout star of this online galaxy was JibJab.com's "This Land," which recorded 5 million hits the week it launched in July. Its sequel, "Good to Be in D.C.," sung to the tune of "Dixie," premiered on Leno's "Tonight Show" Oct. 7. The short spoofs, created by Santa Monica brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, had Americans giggling at the animated lampooning of both Bush ("right-wing nut job") and Kerry ("liberal wiener").
But if you thought the only tune the caricatured candidates knew was "This Land Is Your Land," you haven't Googled lately. In what analysts say is the future of campaigning, merciless Web videos -- both sober and silly, some produced independently, others with partisan backing -- played the role of provocateur in an election that has cemented the power of the Internet.
"Without question, ["This Land" has] been singularly the most widely viewed political ad in 2004," says Larry Purpuro, the Republican National Committee's deputy chief of staff and Internet strategist in 2000. "Any time you have a single communication watched by an estimated 50 million people, you're talking about serious influential impact."
These cartoons are "incredibly funny, they push the creative edge, and they didn't have to go through 10 layers of focus groups and lowest common denominator lawyering," Purpuro says. And thanks to broadband Internet access and Web cartooning tools, cutting and pasting your own political missive is increasingly easy. Many of these Web videos target a young, Internet-savvy audience that looks beyond cable news spinners for their news.
"Campaigns ignore these new animation videos at their peril," Purpuro says.
Bloggers such as Dan Spencer helped spread the word about JibJab and its online cousins. Spencer, 52, of Norwalk, Conn., linked to the "This Land" video from his site. "I thought it was so cool that it could be funny and pick on both sides equally," says the lawyer, who plans to vote for Bush.
