Skype helps Elizabeth Edwards keep speaking engagement--as husband John Edwards makes a surprise cameo appearance
By
Howard Wolinsky on June 26, 2008 in Events, In the news, News, Events, Milestones.
Bad weather may have stopped Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the former Presidential campaigner John Edwards, from leaving her North Carolina home to deliver a speech at a New York political forum. But thanks to Skype, Mrs. Edwards still was able to speak on an impromptu video call to the Personal Democracy Forum.
And John Edwards was a surprise drop-in speaker via Skype on Wednesday to the delight of attendees.
ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports that because of bad weather Elizabeth Edwards had to cancel a speaking engagement at the Personal Democracy Forum 2008 in New York.
Parker reported that a Chapel Hill, N.C. woman with a Mac computer and a Web cam was dispatched to Edward's house, enabling Mrs. Edwards to appear at the conference on Skype.
The ABC blog noted: "During a question and answer session, Mrs. Edwards was talking about how the Internet can get people more involved in the political process when her husband, former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., walked into their home.
"'John, sit down here and say hi to the PDF conference,'" Mrs. Edwards called to her husband, eliciting applause and laughter from the crowd. "
Andrew Raisej, the Forum's founder, who worked on Edwards' 2008 campaign, said, "There's about a thousand people here who are expecting Elizabeth and unfortunately the weather didn't allow her to make it, so we used technology -- you may have heard of it, it's called the Internet, to bring her to everyone in real time."
Check it out
at YouTube.
Edwards was asked how the Internet has changed politics.
"It's completely changed the shape of this race already," Sen. Edwards said. "It is the only reason that Barack Obama is not taking public financing, because he has a fundraising base that's more grassroots, more small donors that allows him a huge competitive advantage against Bush."
"McCain," corrected Mrs. Edwards.
"I mean, excuse me, McCain. Freudian slip," Sen. Edwards said to crowd applause.
We already reported how the Obama campaign in SIlicon Valley reached out to potential voters on Skype.
