The wireless industry’s clout attracted former U.S. presidents last year, but this year it was just enough to lure the former wannabes.
This year’s headline keynote speakers at the CTIA annual industry showcase were former presidential candidates John Edwards and Fred Thompson? Last year the wireless show nabbed Former actual Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton as keynote speakers.
After lamenting lost chances and nodding to the increasing importance of technology in campaigns, both politicians then got busy criticizing how the mainstream media has handled the presidential campaign so far.
Edwards spent a good deal of his keynote discussing how voters, despite wall to wall coverage of the campaign, seemed largely ignorant of the remaining hopefuls’ John McCain (R), Barack Obama (D) and Hillary Clinton (D) differing approaches to issues such as global warming, national security or health care.
“What you’d expect is a more informed electorate,” said Edwards in answer a question about the impact of 24-hour media coverage of the campaigns.
“Unfortunately that’s not the case,” he said during the questions session after his keynote.
