Biden's Iraq Policy SmackDown Site

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 655

From the inbox this week, an email from the Biden campaign that reads in part:

"As many of you know, this week we also launched our new web domain, HeadToHead08.com. Using publicly available video from You Tube, we created a web site to compare the candidate's views on Iraq.

Of course, one video cannot capture the depth of the experience or knowledge any candidate brings to the table. But, it is our hope that Head to Head '08 will help begin a dialogue on the issues among the candidates, particularly the most important issue of our time, ending the war in Iraq. "

This is a clever and gutsy move by Biden's campaign: to go beyond putting out their own plan to launching a site that directly constrasts his proposals with that of the other candidates. Of course, the video on the site, while sourced from YouTube, is nonetheless handpicked by Biden's campaign, so this isn't anything like an unbiased exercise in policy comparison. The intent, clearly, is to show Biden and his proposals in the best possible light while showing the other candidates in the worst. Still, the video is genuine and the statements by the candidates are their actual words, so the potential for outright misrepresentation is limited.

But this is a good example of how campaigns (vis-a-vis all of those sneaky bloggers out there) are beginning to get a handle on using the internet not just to drive the money race, but to change the terms and format of the policy debate this cycle. Look for the other campaigns to serve up their variations on this move. And if you know of similar sites run by other campaigns, post a comment with the URLs so we can all have a look.