January 11, 2007

Romney's Comm Team Does YouTube Rapid Response

Mitt Romney's '08 comms team continues to show its chops in managing the new media environment of blogs, YouTube and Drudge -- or what Mark Halperin and John Harris called "The Freak Show" in their recent book, The Way to Win.

At around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Hotline's blog linked to a YouTube video illustrating Romney's "former" positions on several hot-button social issues, like abortion and gay marriage. 

Rather than allow the criticism to go unaddressed, Team Romney put their man on a sympathetic talk radio show Wednesday afternoon, had him rebut the video, and filmed the interview for their own YouTube posting.  By 8:12 p.m., Romney's video (below) was posted to the Hotline blog.

Between this and Monday's dial-a-thon, Romney's team is showing some impressive media management skills, as well as a sophisticated understanding of how much damage a YouTube clip can do to a candidate, if left to fester.

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