On the March 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, chief political correspondent Carl Cameron reported on the impact that “viral videos” on the Internet can have on political campaigns. Cameron noted the recent Web appearance of three videos:

• One purporting to show Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) inconsistent explanations for his vote against President Bush's 2001 tax cut.
• A second featuring former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) stating that he would “preserve and protect a woman's right to choose” -- a statement at odds with his current opposition to abortion rights.
• And a third -- a “Rudy Giuliani for Mayor” advertisement featuring Donna Hanover, the ex-wife of the former New York City mayor, who says, “Rudy is such a great dad” -- that was posted on the YouTube website days after Giuliani's son Andrew told ABC News that he has “problems with [his] father.”

At the conclusion of his report, Cameron asserted: “The brunt of the bruises so far have been collected by Republicans, but researchers say that doesn't mean Democrats don't have plenty of flip-flops to answer for. It just means they haven't been posted yet.” Cameron did not give viewers any information on the identity of the “researchers.”

From the March 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

CAMERON: Your computer screen is the emerging battlefield, and presidential candidates are facing real-time skirmishes with their own past statements.

John McCain was stung today by the anti-tax group Club for Growth.

McCAIN: I'm not sure what the Club for Growth and I have really in common.

CAMERON: McCain dissed the fiscally conservative group aboard his campaign bus recently, after the club blasted his votes against the first-term Bush tax cuts. Now comes the club's payback.

McCain's been telling voters lately that he opposed the tax cuts for lack of spending restraint. But the club pulled this out of mothballs -- cue YouTube.

McCAIN [video clip]: The reason why I opposed the last round was because what I felt was a disproportionate favoring of the wealthiest 1 percent -- 10 percent of Americans. If that's continued, obviously, then I wouldn't support that.

CAMERON: Webcasting has candidates and campaigns watching for flip-flops as never before. For years, operatives dug up inconsistencies for strategically timed and targeted TV ads and mailings. Now it's called “viralling the video” -- Web-wide emails and postings instantly.

ERIC DEZENHALL (public relations consultant): The Internet, and YouTube specifically, is an opposition-research analyst's dream because it is a minefield of anything negative, because you can't make it go away.

CAMERON: When Mitt Romney cast himself as anti-abortion recently, his statements from past campaigns cascaded into in-boxes nationwide and onto Christian conservative webpages.

ROMNEY [video clip]: I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard.

CAMERON: Most of it's posted anonymously, though several campaigns seem to have advanced notice, and tip reporters before the new gotchas emerge.

Rudy Giuliani clashed with his past recently when questions were raised about his three marriages by his own adult son, Andrew. Giuliani brushed off reporters, insisting that families should be private. But almost instantly an old “Rudy for mayor” ad, including Andrew as a child, resurfaced. This time, it wasn't what the candidate once said that caused some to wince; it's what was said back then by his now-former second wife.

HANOVER [video clip]: When I first met Rudy, he seemed strong and, at the same time, gentle. And I liked that. I thought, “This is the kind of man I want to be the father of my children.” And Rudy is such a great dad.

CAMERON: Both parties recognize how devastating the Web can be as a tool of attack, perhaps just not how best to use it. The brunt of the bruises so far have been collected by Republicans, but researchers say that doesn't mean Democrats don't have plenty of flip-flops to answer for. It just means they haven't been posted yet.

In Washington, Carl Cameron, Fox News.