SpringfieldNewsSun.com

SPRINGFIELD — When Dean Simms recorded a song in honor of Sen. Barack Obama, it was nothing new.

Campaign songs are about as old as campaign lies.

But what the Springfield funk trumpeter did next is new ground for an American election — he uploaded his own music video to YouTube.

"I wanted to do my part, and that's with music," said Simms, who timed the video for "It's Time for a Change" with the recent Ohio primary.

Obama, the Democratic presidential contender from Illinois, lost the Ohio primary to Sen. Hillary Clinton, but Simms is undeterred.

He's working on a new song in time for the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

"Obama is a man who has brought a lot of people together," said Simms, who served a stint in the early 1980s as lead trumpeter in the Ohio Players. "This is like nothing we've seen in our lifetime."

Grass-roots support for candidates has taken full advantage of current technology.

Namely, the video-sharing site YouTube.

For Ed Hasecke, an assistant professor of political science at Wittenberg University, it's been fascinating to watch.

"There's been this shift in who controls campaign messages," he said. "Candidates want to be able to control how they're seen. Image matters."

YouTube takes away that control and puts it squarely in the hands, and video cameras, of regular folks like Simms.

"Which is a mixed bag for candidates," Hasecke said.

Simms acknowledges the lip-synching in his video is a little off.

"It's not OK, but we did it in a rushed way," he said. "There are other videos coming up every day and I didn't want to get lost in the shuffle."

From the Obama Girl to will.i.am's "Yes We Can" — an all-star video featuring Springfield Grammy-winner John Legend singing in support of Obama — the senator from Illinois clearly has the viral lead.

"Some candidates are better able to harness the new media, and these changes happen all the time," Hasecke said.

So perhaps YouTube in the 2008 campaign will be remembered like TV in 1960.

Only it's going to be a lot trickier to master.

"YouTube's one of those places," Hasecke said, "where you can smell when something's not authentic."