The Big Picture

Many of the biggest battles of the 2008 campaign played out on YouTube. A look at how the channel became the most important political venue of the year.

Newsweek, November 10, 2008 — In the hours before President George W. Bush was set to give his final State of the Union message last January, Sen. Barack Obama was already preparing his response. His campaign wasn't planning a press conference or appearances on network news. Instead, they shot and uploaded video of the democratic presidential candidate's comments onto the only site that could rival primetime power—Youtube.