According to a press release this morning, Cox-Las Vegas (via Channel 1 “On Demand”) is inviting all candidates for elected office to go in and tape a 2-minute video for playback on their On Demand system:

CONTACT

Steve Schorr, VP — (702) 545-1002 — steve.schorr@cox.com

COX Las Vegas Gives Candidates for Elected Office Free Air Time to Outline Platform and Connect Directly with Voters

LAS VEGAS – Cox Communications-Las Vegas is once again providing candidates for local, state and federal elected office free air time through its popular “Elections On Demand” initiative via Cox Channel 1 On DEMAND. The company’s election year initiative allows candidates to tape a two-minute “candidate vignette” in a special TV studio for playback via the Cox On DEMAND system. The initiative allows Cox digital cable viewers to more objectively educate themselves about candidates running in the June 8 primary election.

Cox Las Vegas has invited over 400 candidates who have filed for local, state and federal office in Clark County to participate in the company’s “Elections 2010” program. Each candidate is allowed a two-minute, pre-prepared candidate script at the company’s Cox Media television studio in Las Vegas. The scripts are written by the candidates themselves and must not contain any negativity or mudslinging directed at any other candidate. Scripts will be pre-screened and approved. No video editing of the candidate vignette is allowed; each candidate simply selects the best of three takes to be uploaded to the On DEMAND platform. There is no cost whatsoever for candidates to participate.

On Monday, April 19, all of the two-minute, candidate vignettes will be made available to Cox digital cable customers via the On DEMAND platform on Cox Channel 1. The vignettes can be activated using the Cox remote control on Cox Channel 1 à Freezone à Elections 2010.

“With so many choices this election cycle, it’s critical for candidates to connect with voters and for voters to have a better understanding of their candidates,” said Steve Schorr, vice president of public and government affairs at Cox Las Vegas. “Voters all too often vote by name. With Elections On DEMAND, our digital cable customers will have an opportunity to associate a name with a candidate’s specific platform thereby creating a more objective decision-making process based on side-by-side comparisons of each candidate’s platform.” Schorr went on to say “with the large number of candidates on the primary ballot we saw a reason to do this for the first time ever in Primary election.”

Elections 2010 is being provided as a community service to Cox digital cable customers by Cox’s News and Public Affairs department and is being produced entirely by Cox Communications without any cost to the candidates. Elections 2010 On DEMAND category will run from April 19 and Primary Election day in June. Cox Las Vegas notified all candidates who filed with the Clark County Registrar of Voters about the opportunity to participate in Elections 2010.

I assume their On Demand stats can be (and are) tracked.  Seems like a worthwhile endeavor and/but I’ll be very curious to see how many downloads/views they get.