By NEIL H. SIMON, Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON—After months of winning votes and mobilizing supporters, Virginians Rob Raffety and Gabrielle Birchak are heading to the national political conventions.
But they’re not delegates. They’re not even politicians.
Raffety, of Arlington, and Birchak, of Annandale, are the winners of a national political pundit contest sponsored by Project Breakout, a Web site that hosts video and talent competitions.
Judged by broadcast professionals and voted on by anybody who viewed their video entries online, Raffety and Birchak each won $2,500 and free trips to St. Paul, Minn. and Denver respectively.
Raffety, who won first place, said his punditry will take a more moderate tone than the talking heads on TV who often look the same, dress the same, and appear to share the same talking points.
“They’re going to be yelling back and forth at one another, claiming they know what’s right and wrong,” he said. “That’s not my style. I’m more interested in what the people have to say.”
On his drive to the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, Raffety plans to create videos from stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin “to engage people and get them excited and motivated to get ready for these upcoming elections.”
And if his early videos are any indication, there will be plenty of humor.
Raffety’s introductory video, which has been viewed more than 20,000 times online, shows him talking about working in Congress, and then cuts to him jumping across the screen shouting, “The belly of the beast, baby” pointing at the Capitol dome.
Now he’s an attorney for the federal government and an adjunct professor of law and public policy at George Mason University.
Birchak, a stand-up comic and comedy writer, will practice her punditry from Denver – her hometown and the site of the Democratic National Convention, which starts Aug. 25.
A self-described Jewish-Italian soccer mom, Birchak stands 4 feet 9 inches tall and talks very fast. She hopes to give some voice to the people outside the Pepsi Center this month.
“It’s going to be chaos,” she predicted. “We’ve got people that are all for meditate ’08, recreate ’68. I mean you name it, it’s going on out there and we’re going to try and cover it all.”
Both pundits will meet up with Project Breakout video crews in their respective cities who will help them shoot and edit about three videos a day.
Project Breakout did not receive media credentials to cover the conventions. So their coverage will focus on the slew of events and people outside the convention hall.
The regular TV analysts on the inside “take themselves way too seriously,” said Birchak, whose contest videos resemble faux newscasts.
“It’s just politics,” she said. “It’s not the end of the world. Have some fun with it.”
But they’re not delegates. They’re not even politicians.
Raffety, of Arlington, and Birchak, of Annandale, are the winners of a national political pundit contest sponsored by Project Breakout, a Web site that hosts video and talent competitions.
Judged by broadcast professionals and voted on by anybody who viewed their video entries online, Raffety and Birchak each won $2,500 and free trips to St. Paul, Minn. and Denver respectively.
Raffety, who won first place, said his punditry will take a more moderate tone than the talking heads on TV who often look the same, dress the same, and appear to share the same talking points.
“They’re going to be yelling back and forth at one another, claiming they know what’s right and wrong,” he said. “That’s not my style. I’m more interested in what the people have to say.”
On his drive to the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, Raffety plans to create videos from stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin “to engage people and get them excited and motivated to get ready for these upcoming elections.”
And if his early videos are any indication, there will be plenty of humor.
Raffety’s introductory video, which has been viewed more than 20,000 times online, shows him talking about working in Congress, and then cuts to him jumping across the screen shouting, “The belly of the beast, baby” pointing at the Capitol dome.
Now he’s an attorney for the federal government and an adjunct professor of law and public policy at George Mason University.
Birchak, a stand-up comic and comedy writer, will practice her punditry from Denver – her hometown and the site of the Democratic National Convention, which starts Aug. 25.
A self-described Jewish-Italian soccer mom, Birchak stands 4 feet 9 inches tall and talks very fast. She hopes to give some voice to the people outside the Pepsi Center this month.
“It’s going to be chaos,” she predicted. “We’ve got people that are all for meditate ’08, recreate ’68. I mean you name it, it’s going on out there and we’re going to try and cover it all.”
Both pundits will meet up with Project Breakout video crews in their respective cities who will help them shoot and edit about three videos a day.
Project Breakout did not receive media credentials to cover the conventions. So their coverage will focus on the slew of events and people outside the convention hall.
The regular TV analysts on the inside “take themselves way too seriously,” said Birchak, whose contest videos resemble faux newscasts.
“It’s just politics,” she said. “It’s not the end of the world. Have some fun with it.”