CNN moderator John King opened by asking candidate Newt Gingrich to address allegations of infidelity made by his former wife in an interview with ABC News.

Rather than respond to the allegations, Gingrich unleashed an angry tirade on King, and the rest of the “elite media,” to a rousing applause from the audience.

“I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.” Gingrich said, leaving the CNN anchor stammering to defend himself.

Whether or not it was the right choice of opening question, one thing is clear: in the debate, as in the campaign as a whole, slamming the media is a sure way to win points with voters.

I spent the week on the ground in South Carolina with Com Dept Chair David Domke, MCDM Associate Director Anita Verna Crofts, and four UW students, covering the Republican campaigns in the lead up to the primary election on Saturday, for a blog hosted by the Seattle Times

Over the course of the week I heard numerous references to the ‘elite’ or ‘liberal’ media from all four of the candidates.

Which makes sense. It’s a brilliant tactic, which allows the candidate to paint them selves as an underdog in touch with the common folk, who can’t get the tough truths they’re delivering out to more potential supporters because they’re being censored and attacked by a biased media machine.

But irony of this argument didn’t fully dawn on me until Gingrich’s victory speech on Saturday night, when he again went after the media. In an awkward moment I looked around the packed ballroom and noticed that journalists and TV crews outnumbered his actual supporters about 2 to 1.

Should we take offense? Here we were, spending our Saturday night crowded into a stifling room to broadcast his message around the world. The least he could do was say, “Its okay guys, I’m not talking about you.”

Of course, the seasoned political reporters in the room knew not to take it personally, because they understand the symbiotic relationship that media companies and politicians have.

But back in Charleston on Thursday, at moments it looked a lot more like a debate between the CNN moderator and the four republican candidates, especially when SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) came up in a question sent in via twitter.

King took the opportunity to disclose that CNN’s parent company, Time Warner was in favor of the law. But it sounded more like he was making an argument for SOPA on their behalf than just pointing out that they had an interest at stake:

“Time Warner, says we need a law like this because some of its products, movies, programming, and the like, are being ripped off online,” he said.

All four of the candidates came out against the Republican-introduced bill to varying degrees, slamming nails into the coffin after the bill was effectively killed  by the massive protest blackout the previous day.

But in between the individual candidates’ responses, King continued to make what sounded like arguments for the bill.

You can see the back and forth for yourself here:

(No, the irony of embedding an unlicensed rip of the CNN broadcast is not lost on me.)

In the next round of questions, about how the candidates might have run their campaigns differently if they had it to do again, Gingrich took another opportunity to tout himself as a media outsider.

“I would skip the opening three months where I hired regular consultants and tried to figure how to be a normal candidate,” he said. “And I would just go straight to being a big ideas, big solutions, Internet- based campaign from day one.”

Its true that, off all the remaining candidates, he appears to have the most web savvy campaign, right down to the Foursquare integrated events map on his user friendly campaign site newt.org.

Despite his dismal national approval ratings, and tainted history, both personal and political, Gingrich seems to have found a sweet spot of playing the outsider and deftly using the mainstream media to deliver his message that he…well…doesn’t have any use for the mainstream media.

It may not be winning him friends at CNN, but it seems to be winning him votes.

For more on the ground coverage and analysis of the 2012 elections, visit www.uwelectioneye.seattletimes.com

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With that said… I am concerned for the future of the Republican party.

While utilizing social media in the McCain campaign might not have been very useful in the 2008 election, the Republican party cannot continue to ignore its power. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook is the 35+ group and if the Republicans want to maintain a strong presence into the future they are going to need to do something. The GOP can’t afford to have Republicans start dying off without replenishing the ranks.

Shockingly enough, there are Republicans out there who don’t know how to play pinochle, who listen to independent music, shop locally and even use the internet. Some… actually know how to end a call on a cellphone-

Brian “…leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”
Grandma “Hi Brian. Just wanted to say hi. Talk to you later. Love ya.
Grandma “How do I turn this thing off?”
Grandpa “I think you hit that button”
Grandma “Which button?”
Grandpa “The button with the red phone on it.”
Grandma “Is it off?”
Grandpa “I don’t know. Just close the phone.”
Grandma “I’m trying to drive!”
click.

Now I know these activities have been enjoyed by some democrats for a while now, but Republicans are just starting to get this social media thing. The party might actually be able to round up some of the young Republicans and organize them if they used the internet to even half its potential. It is the organizing that the Obama campaign executed on that I think that is what the GOP is missing due to not having a strong social media plan. Social media can organize people who wouldn’t have been able to organize otherwise.

Is there any hope for us Republicans? I think so. If the GOP actually looks at what social media can do and puts some thought and effort into creating a modern (and aesthetically pleasing) internet presence, I do think more Republicans will go online and contribute to the party. Is it going to happen as fast as it probably should happen? Probably not… but hey, we just happen to have a lot of people in our party who like Sit and Be Fit… we gotta take it slow.

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