more after the jump
Warner clarified some statements made regarding his commitment to abortion rights, but generally did not take audience questions (as this was sort of a demo run for the campaign, a n expanded community roundable event is planned for September, in which questions will be taken).
Certainly it is encouraging to me to find Democratic politicians reaching out and exploring new media, and experimenting with new methods of microtargeting voters. As SL is years away from being a real metaverse, I can't imagine the campaign has any illusions about this being an effective strategy for reaching the "geek vote". But it's a start. A campaign that knows that it has to use fora like this, or myspace, or whatnot, to reach formerly difficult to reach segments of the population is a campaign worth following.
Below is a fragment of the exchange between Au add Warner in-world:
MW: Thanks Hamlet. Fire away with the questions.HA: How are you today?
MW: Well this is my first virtual appearance, I'm feeling a little disembodied!
Angelina Graziadei [from the audience]: Will Jim Webb win Virginia?
HA: Since this is a very short initial appearance, we'll hold off on audience Q&A for the Governor's "town hall" appearance in late September/early October. Details on that to come soon!
So, Governor Warner, welcome again. To start off, why don't you tell us a bit about who you are in your own words, and the main message you want to convey with your political action committee, Forward Together?
MW: As a former high-tech entrepreneur and Governor of Virginia, I'm proud of the results we achieved in Virginia. We got named the best managed state in American by Governing Magazine. We were named the best place to do business in America by Forbes. And saw dramatic increases in our test scores, including the largest Math SAT score increase in the nation, and we finally started to crack the code on how to bring knowledge-based jobs to rural communities.
Now, at Forward Together, we're trying to advocate that politics in this country is less about left versus right, or liberal versus conservative, but more about the future versus the past. So it's exciting for me to be here today.
HA: Tell us about your background as a high-tech entrepreneur, sir, and how it relates to your efforts now, with Forward Together, and your coming to Second Life.
MW: Clearly, how people communicate, what type of communities they form, is changing real time. At Forward Together, we want to use every tool -- including virtual tools! -- to communicate some of our ideas about how we get our country back on the right track.
...
Now, I saw a question [from the audience] about Jim Webb.HA: Please take it if you like, sir.
MW: I think he has a great chance to winning, and I look forward to campaigning with him. And I'll be out campaigning for him this Labor Day across Virginia.
HA: Of course I have a million other questions, as I'm sure the audience does, but perhaps we should save that for future events. Speaking of which, what kind of activities in Second Life do you and your staff have planned, Governor?
MW: We formed the Second Life group, and I'll be back later this fall to do a virtual town hall meeting, and folks like Taking Nap and Whirling Eddy can get their questions answered then
HA: Excellent!
MW: You've gotta cut me some slack, this is the first time I've flown onto a stage!
HA: You've performed quite well, sir. You are not a noob.
Some Images
Governor Warner's Avatar:
Senator Ted Steven's version of the internet listens intently:
Warner's audience:
on edit: my astonishment at the low level of griefing: the Warner Metaverse Advance Team cleared the simulator of shady and suspicious characters before the event.
on further edit: Texas Nate, in comments, notes that excess avatars were "cleared off" to improve Sim performance, not to decrease the chance of griefing.© Kos Media, LLC
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