They are not your ordinary candidates and this will not be your ordinary campaign, the usual Republican and Democrat handbooks better served as coasters for the many drinks political strategists will be needing as we head into November and they face the changed political landscape.  The American public was previewed to the changing dynamics of the 2008 race with the comments made by President Bush in Isreal and the blowback that followed.  National security, an issue usually held captive by the GOP and a reliable weapon against Democrats, became a political boomerang as the President and McCain suggested Sen. Obama will appease terrorist regimes such as Hamas and Iran.  There was an immediate response from the Obama campaign, Democratic leaders and even some Republicans critizising the idea that Obama would be a Richard Chamberlin in a post-9/11 world.  By the end of the day there were examples of the Bush administration's own dealigs with Iran, Libya and North Korea along with clips of McCain making statements more in line with Obama's position and contradicting his statement coinciding with the Bush speech.  Online polls, although not reliable, seemed to show a public unconvinced and unreceptive to the appeasement arguement.  What this one example, all taking place in a 24 hour period, shows is how conventional wisdom has been turned on its head.

There are three main contributors to the shift in campaign logic: the internet, a 24 hour news cycle and the candidates themselves.  While the news cycle has been around for previous presidential elections, the internet has emerged as a driving force in politics and will be key in the 2008 election and those to follow.  Blog sites such have Huffington Post and Politico are often quoted and have steered the debate on the news networks.  Anyone who follows politics can atest to the constant emails and alerts on their mobile.  There are constant attacks and response from both sides, usually within minutes of each other.  While the Obama campaign has grasped the benefits of the internet through outreach and fundraising, they have been burned badly by a YouTube generation who could watch the Wright sermons for themselves and in living color instead of a by gone era when the reverend's statements might have never come to light.  An email contending Obama is actually a muslim who used a Koran at his Senate inauguration has convinced many Americans despite photos to the contrary and the candidates insistance he is indeed a christian.  A traditional mailer could never had the impact this one email has had.  The candidates themselves, both praising the ability to reach out across the aisle to find common values and solutions, are considered above the fray of their party peers.  McCain's current strategy of typical GOP attacks against Obama will not be typical of the campaign ahead as he gets his bearings for what will be his message, his speech of the world in 2013 more of an indication of things to come.  Both will embrace a message of a positive tomorrow through good old American hard work and ingenuity, instead relying on surrogates to do the dirty work and the public with full in-boxes.

All of these factors will change the electoral map and add to the speculation of a very tight race.  Look for the debates to be more pivitol than ever and the point when conventional wisdom returns.  Who looks better and sounds presidential?  What myths will be dispelled or highlighted?  It will come down to how the campaigns and candidates manuever through the new political wildnerness best by election day.