Check out the email I got from John Edwards today

No, I mean really check it out. IT'S COOL, and is the kind of vision that politicians should be presenting the public. He has also learned how to affectively use the new media at his disposal, and as Zack Exley says:

30 YEARS! And I just posted something over on Huffington a few hours ago that said no Dems had long-term vision. Shame on me!

I click on "Listen Now." It takes me to this awesome graphic of an old TV set. I think it is the exact model I grew up with -- so maybe that means Edwards is alienating the youth constituency.

Anyways, the whole thing is perfect: Edwards is a little off center, the video is a little too crisp, he's in front of a cheesy flag that's obviously been chosen to be the exactly right amount cheesy -- just perfect.

And he's actually talking like a human being! Thank God almighty, a Democratic politician has figured out how to talk like a real, regular human being.

Not once -- not even once! -- does he raise his hand and do the Bill Clinton / Politician gesture. (Bill was its only legitimate user, because he invented it. But now whoever uses it: they're just screaming "kick me I'm a politician!").

It's just as though, in the middle of his busy day, he stopped to tape this little podcast, and did it in one, casual take. Nothing to vet by the comms director here, this is coming from the man himself.

Better still, he speaks explicitly to the members of his "online community" as though he knows them -- as though he genuinely appreciates them.

I could be cynical and wonder how hard Edwards, the most talented politician in America, has to try not to sound like a politician. But I know from the Kerry campaign that both he and Elizabeth Edwards take this online stuff seriously. I'm convinced that this is a simple case of John Edwards understanding that there is an enthusiastic base out there who supports him and his anti-poverty fight. He seems to genuinely want to reach out, thank them, and let them in on what he's up to. Read on...