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Best Videos of 2008 - Mike McIntee's Picks

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It's hard to pick the "best" videos of the year.  There are so many reasons that they can be good.  So I've picked several based on my own categories.

Best On Camera Ass-Whuppin'

If you are a fan of Bill Moyers, you absolutely need to watch him perform political Jujitsu on a Fox producer for Bill O'Reilly's show. The producer was sent out to ambush Moyers at the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis this summer.  The ambusher ended up being the ambushee and citizen media chased him from the building.  Video here: http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/65

Best story about what was happening, but you didn't see in the legacy media
There are several videos, but all about related stories.

I liked "We need God in our Governments"  because it was charming and horrifying at the same time.  Here are some people who honestly believe the misinformation that was being spread through religious social networks and churches about Barack Obama.  Video here: http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1540

We saw this rear its head later in the campaign when John McCain came to Apple Valley, Minnesota.  One of his supporters said to McCain, "Obama is an Arab".  McCain corrected her, but later she talked with The UpTake and explained how letters with this and other "really bad" information about Obama was being circulated by volunteers at John McCain's campaign office in Burnsville, Minnesota.  Video here: http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/928

Video with subtitles here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOU9xZ4zcss

The UpTake's Chuck Olsen was also way ahead of the legacy media in picking up the story about Republicans supporting Barack Obama.  Here's a story he did way back before the Iowa caucuses about a "Reagan Republican" who has her reasons for supporting Obama.  And one of those reasons is named Adam.
http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1527/

Best Big Event Video

Big events?  There were many.  But none as big as the night Barack Obama claimed the Democratic Party nomination in St. Paul, Minnesota.  He did it in the same building where John McCain would accept his party's nomination just a few months later.  If you want to know what it was like, we have the entire speech that we streamed live.  http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/10

Best Storytelling In A Video

We were fortunate to have the help of Richard Hall in the Ozarks this campaign season. He gave us his own particular take on the election, usually with "small stories"... stuff most of the other media would miss, but the themes and issues he touched were anything but small. One in particular was my favorite.  It was about how campaigning can be a positive experience. Given the daily stories we were seeing about how horrible and nasty campaigns can be, this was a reassuring and uplifting story. Video here: http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1545/

Best Expose On Lack Of Transparency In Politics

I did this one, so I hesitate to mention it.  But if you want to see the danger as well as the promise of citizen media this story has it.   The danger:  a paid "volunteer" for Congressman John Kline poses as media or a "regular citizen" (we're not sure which) to heckle his opponent at a press conference.  The promise: citizen media exposed this ruse.    Video here: http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/387

Things That Blow Up: Best Use Of New Inexpensive Technology For Citizen Journalism

It has to be the live video streaming cell phone.  The UpTake was able to deploy these phones just before the Republican National Convention.  No longer could police suppress coverage by confiscating cameras.  When it was captured on a cell phone, the video was already safely recorded on a server many miles away.  An unforgettable moment was captured in the video "Journalists Trapped Between Police, Protesters And Pyrotechnics".  The UpTake's Corrine McDermid and Oliver Dykstra brave tear gas and explosives to show you what was happening live.   Video here: http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/695

Most Excruciating Press Conference

US Senator Norm Coleman's Campaign representative must have been sat down by the lawyers and told that the only thing he could say in response to questions about Coleman allegedly accepting gifts from a big donor was "The Senator has reported every gift he has received".   Cullen Sheehan repeated that phrase about a dozen times in a non-response to questions from the press.  That turned out to be a bad idea, because it got the press even more interested in the story which has led the FBI to start investigating.  Watch as Sheehan squirms:
http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/rss/videogalleryView/id/1123/

Just Damn Weird
Several come to mind here.

Ron Paul supporters were always a bit goofy, but the height of their inspired lunacy was protesting outside the hotel where the media was staying in New Hampshire because Ron Paul had not been allowed into the debate.   Video: http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1532/

There were commentaries from Sock Le Puppet  ( a sock puppet who claims to be French, but sounds like Inspector Clouseau from the Bronx ) constantly mocking the legacy media for trying to shape the news.  He want a little over the edge after John McCain suggested suspending the campaign.  http://presidential-politics.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1061/  ;

A strange presentation on the steps of a San Francisco Courthouse about "Poop and Politics" http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1541/

But weirdest of all was "Catfish Caucus" captured on a cold Des Moines street the night of the Iowa Caucuses.  http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1528/

Inside McCain's Florida Campaign

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Central Florida McCain Chairman Lewis Oliver on ACORN, paid volunteers, republicans limiting hours and locations of polling stations in Florida, and voter turn out tactics used by the McCain campaign.

Video by Sam Mayfield

"Conned" by "Obama Mania" - How McCain Can Win

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Despite polls that show Barack Obama ahead, one McCain stratagist sees a scenerio that will give victory to John McCain. Lewis Oliver is the Chairman of McCain's campaign in Central Florida. He says little things such as Palin on Saturday Night Live and gaffs by Joe Biden have given McCain momentum and undecideds will break towards the candidate who looks like he is going to win.

The McCain Campaign may not want you to see this

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By Sam Mayfield

If there's one thing both the McCain and Obama campaigns agree on it's that the election will be close in Florida. The McCain campaign says it has more volunteers than the Democrats and that ultimately gives them the edge. McCain's Central Florida Campaign Manger says ACORN and the Democrats have to rely on paid workers.

However, the McCain campaign is hiring paid workers who sometimes also call themselves volunteers. The UpTake's Sam Mayfield talked to a few of them... and that's when one McCain campaign worker decided you shouldn't see what is going on and threatened to have her arrested.

"Desperate" Republican Attacks On ACORN Voter Registration

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Obama Campaign Volunteer Jeff Parker calls the Republican attacks on ACORN's voter registration efforts "desperate". Republicans and the McCain Campaingn in Florida and several other battleground states have asserted that ACORN is conspiring to fraudulently register voters.

This is video from outside the Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton rally in Orlando, Florida on October 20, 2008. Besides the interview with Parker, The UpTakes's Sam Mayfield also talks with a community member about the ACORN issue and the McCain campaigns' handling of it.

"Jobs, Baby, Jobs"- Clinton & Obama In Florida

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Sending the bull to clean up the china shop makes as much sense as sending Republicans back to Washington to clean up the nation's financial mess. That was one of the many one liners Senator Hillary Clinton fired off at Republicans as she campaigned in Orlando, Florida with Senator Barack Obama.

Clinton tweaked her oft used line "it takes a Clinton to clean up after a Bush" to once again a Democrat will help us rise from the Bushes. She also tweaked the Republican campaign slogan of "drilll baby drill" to the more economically focused "jobs, baby, jobs".

Early Voters in Florida

Movie: http://Florida.groups.theuptake.org/rss/videogalleryView/id/1016/
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October 20th is the first day for early voting in Florida. Sam Mayfield visited polling stations in Central Florida including downtown Orlando and Winter Park. Most voters indicated they wanted to avoid the long lines and traffic associated with election day. Others cited the problems with ballot counting in 2000; this year they wanted to be certain their vote was counted correctly.

Over midday the longest line seen was about 75 people although there were reporters of lines up to 100 in some locations.

VIDEO: Sam Mayfield
TEXT: Noah Kunin