As it happens (and this is surreal) the best on-the-scene report on Governor Warner's appearance in Second Life comes not from the SL blogosphere, but from Dana Milbank, acclaimed Washington Post columnist, seasoned reporter of the US political scene, and author of Smash Mouth: Two Years in the Gutter with Al Gore and George W. Bush--Notes from the 2000 Campaign Trail.
His column, "Do You Have a Question, Pixeleen Minstral?" includes excerpts of the chat transcript before and after the event, including appearance of well-known avatars like Spin Martin, Rik Riel, Millions of Us CEO and NWN sponsor Reuben Tapioca, and though he mispells her name in the very title, SL reporter Pixeleen Mistral. Of course, I take strong issue with Milbank's notion that I "cut off audience questions, quickly turning the session into a digital version of a Bush town hall meeting"-- the unkindest cut of all!-- since the event was always intended and described as just a short introductory meeting for the actual open-ended town hall planned in early October.
That to one side, Milbank's reportorial eye catches some emblematic moments of the Second Life experience, including the clearing of griefers in the beginning, and the ongoing difficulty for new users to just sit down. Worth reading, read it all here. If Milbank does such an exceptional job despite his limited background with SL, maybe it's because he has some previous experience as an avatar, of a kind: after the Vice President's unfortunate if darkly amusing hunting accident, to the outrage of many conservatives, he engaged in some roleplaying of his own.
There's more big media commentary from the Post's political blog, CNN/Money, and Red Herring, commentary from political blogs like Daily Kos, United Conservatives for Virginia (!), and SL resident Thomas P.M. Barnett, and a hat tip from Instapundit and Huffington Post; game blog conversation comes from Kotaku, Game Politics, and Joystiq. More, no doubt, to come.
Update, 9/5: In this post's Comments, Forward Together's Nancy Mandelbrot has thoughts on planning and running Governor Warner's event last week, and opens the floor to suggestions for the Governor's next appearance in Second Life.
Update, 11:50AM: Just launched a new survey, right column, middle page: "Do you want to see more real world politicians and campaigns in Second Life?"
Update, 9/3: Mark Warner-in-SL was also featured on CNN's "The Situation Room", where it appeared between a report on fighting cancer with stem cells, and controversy over Donald Rumsfeld's statements about 9/11 and appeasing fascism; it was also noted on the August 31 video podcast of the G4 gaming network, where it appeared between a story on the reality TV show "Survivor" and a contest to select the hottest fembot. Additionally, there's a substantial report on The National Journal's Hotline. (Via the real life blog of Warner staffer Nancy Mandelbrot, who offers a nice post-event wrap-up of her own. Evidently, the Governor's showing in SL came down to a close office vote: "on the virtual Mark Warner -- tie or no tie?")