Iowa was an incredibly fun experience, it was the first time I’d been paid to be a journalist. At the end of the fair I went on the rollercoaster because I figured what’s a fair without a midway ride? The straw poll was very similar to the fair except that it was all about politics. It was the same kind of carnival atmosphere. For most people the food was free, the entertainment was free, so maybe even better than the fair. People dressed up in all sorts of costumes. Elvis. Political cats. It was a side of politics that I’d assumed was out there but had never seen myself. To go into that kind of target-rich environment, where there were so many visual things going on, so many people to talk to, it was a great experience. I uploaded 22 videos over the course of two days.

I had this Web cam and I said, ‘Why not start posting videos?’ It seemed like a fun thing to do. Maybe people will actually care what I have to say. It seems like people watch a lot of inane things that are posted, so why not give it a go? My favorite subject since about seventh grade has always been politics.

The first couple of videos that I made were about the top tier presidential candidates, as determined by the mainstream media. And I realized that they were boring. I was mimicking what the mainstream media was doing.

It’s not like I originally got a very large response from the YouTube community for that.  I built my audience slowly until I got featured on the homepage. Then it took off. I thought this is something that no one else is talking about. It’s a niche for me to fill. I had something to say, people were interested in hearing it, so I kept saying it. ... I tried a lot of different things. I was rapping in one. I used sock puppets to discuss the length of the presidential campaign season. Much later I began interviewing candidates.

Larry Craig's Crappergate

The great thing is that no one can say they know more about campaigning on YouTube than me. It’s certainly possible they know as much or have a different opinion but since I basically started commenting from the beginning, I’m a “expert” in this niche. So it’s been fun. The Economist called me “probably the world’s foremost expert on YouTube videos posted by presidential candidates,” which is a ridiculous statement to make because it’s such a small niche. I think they were being a little tongue in cheek with that.

The pencil puppets really caught on. People really find that idea endearing.

In 11th grade, we had an activity where we were brainstorming ideas for small businesses. I came up with this idea for emergency cheese, which is a snack pack for adults that you carry around all day, maybe some crackers and spreadable cheese in it. The idea I had for a commercial was that you’d have a board meeting where everyone was talking about some knotty problem and suddenly someone junior stands up on a chair and says “Emergency Cheese!” Everyone pulls out the snack pack and the tension is instantly gone and they start dancing around to Jamaican music. This wasn’t necessarily the best idea for a business because I had no idea how to make cheese or how to get a factory to produce.... But I liked the name. I had a Web site for a while called Emergency Cheese where I wrote random musings and had pictures of different kinds of cheese that were characters like Party-Time Provolone or All-American American.

Ron Paul didn’t make any aesthetic comments about the dorm room but the idea that a congressman and presidential candidate would come to a college kid’s dorm room was pretty new. He and his press secretary didn’t really know what to expect. I know his press secretary had seen my stuff, and they don’t have a lot of money or a whole lot to lose. So why not do it. He was a very nice guy and came across as a very principled guy. He’s also very interesting because his views aren’t like that of a typical politician. He and Mike Gravel—who also came to my dorm room—were probably the two most interesting politicians to talk to because their views are so different from what you would typically hear a politician say. .. Other politicians I could pretty much predict what they’d say when I asked a question. Various people commented after that video went up that my dorm room was messy, so for the next video I cleaned it up a little.

No Tom Tancredo yet, surprisingly enough. I’ve heard from campaign sources that they’ve discussed doing an interview with me, but because I’m “just a blogger” it’s not worth their time, which is fascinating to me. If anyone needs the publicity, it’s someone like Tom Tancredo.