Hulu Blog » Election 2008

Inauguration Streaming Live from Hulu

Rebecca Harper — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:56:33 +0000

If you can’t make the trip to Washington, D.C., for Tuesday’s presidential inauguration, Hulu has just the ticket. We’ll be offering a live stream of the inaugural events, courtesy of Fox, that you can watch from hulu.com or directly from your personal website or blog using our embed code.

The coverage starts on Tuesday, January 20 at 9 a.m. EST and runs through 1:30 p.m. EST; the ceremony will also be available on demand on Hulu following the events. To get you in the spirit of the inauguration, our partners at iCue have compiled 23 inaugural speeches from past presidents, ranging from William McKinley — the oldest video on Hulu — to George W. Bush. In addition, to provide news related to the incoming administration, we’ve put together a spotlight page about the Obama Presidency, where you can find the latest commentary, weekly addresses, speeches and political humor related to the transition. It’s updated daily with relevant content from MSNBC, Fox News, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report, among others. You may even consider it your go-to source for the latest videos on President-elect Obama.

Rebecca (rebecca.harper@hulu.com),
Editor

Election Day Speeches

Rebecca Harper — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:25:38 +0000

Before the euphoria of Election Day wears off — I don’t know about you, but I was glued to my TV set until after 1 a.m., watching my state’s results come in — we wanted to let you know that Hulu’s Election ‘08 Spotlight page is still around. We’ve added all of the election night commentary clips provided by our partners at MSNBC, as well as the full episode of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “The Final Endgame Go Time Alpha Action Lift-off Decide-icidal Hungry Man’s Extreme Raw Power Ultimate Voteslam Smackdown ‘08 No Mercy: Judgement Day ‘08″ or, more succinctly (thank you, Jon Stewart), Indecision ‘08: America’s Choice.

And while Stewart and Colbert provided an hour of funny coverage last night, two of the best moments all night came from the candidates. Senator John McCain’s concession speech has been called graceful and classy, a dignified way for the war hero step out of the spotlight. As he said, “And I call on all Americans … to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.”

Shortly thereafter, President-elect Barack Obama appeared before a crowd of 125,000 in Chicago’s Grant Park, delivering a hopeful acceptance speech amid chants of “Yes we can!” and “Obama,” reminding us that “this is our time… to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one.”

This election cycle has been full of great moments, from profound speeches like these to funnier moments courtesy of our friends at Saturday Night Live. It’s been a long, sometimes bumpy, ride, but it’s been this season’s most riveting drama.

Hope you enjoyed the show,

Rebecca

rebecca.harper@hulu.com

Editor

Live from New York, It’s Sarah Palin

Rebecca Harper — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:20:27 +0000

Saturday Night Live continued its long history of political cameos this week, with Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin making two appearances on the show. She follows the likes of Gerald Ford, Janet Reno and, most recently, Hillary Clinton, who have all dropped in to prove that they can handle some good-natured lampooning.

So how’d Gov. Palin do? Hulu has clips from both of her appearances this week, so you can be the judge. She appears first in the opener and again with Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler on Weekend Update. And though Palin didn’t rap along with Poehler behind the news desk, she did raise the roof a little. Her opening sketch proves she’s a good sport about all the jibes — and even capable of delivering a good zinger.

Rebecca (rebecca.harper@hulu.com),
Editor

Streaming Live Wednesday Night: The Final Presidential Debate

Rebecca Harper — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:05:34 +0000

As the election continues to dominate the national consciousness — it’s just over three weeks away now — the presidential debates conclude with the third and final debate tomorrow night. Just as we did last week, Hulu is offering a live stream of the complete presidential debate (courtesy of our friends at Fox) starting at 9 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. PDT Wednesday. Working late hours? Tune in from your office PC. Putting in some time at the local coffee shop? Watch it live from your laptop. Too tied up to catch McCain and Obama live? We’ll post the event in its entirety, along with clips and pre- and post-debate commentary, as soon as they become available following the live feed. You can find it all — along with election-related standup and sketches — on our Election ‘08 Spotlight page.

You can also embed the live stream on your blog or website and share it with your visitors. Just copy the embed code found at hulu.com/debate.html before the debates begin and paste it to your site. The countdown will appear until the action begins.

Enjoy, (rebecca.harper@hulu.com),
Rebecca

Presidential Debates Streaming Live on Hulu

Travis McCann — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:08:41 +0000

When we aren’t obsessing over video quality at Hulu, we’re often talking about the ins and outs of the upcoming election, discussing debates, campaign strategies, and generating more than a few debates ourselves.

We love an election, and it’s been very important to us that we fulfill our civic duty during this very important time for our country. We want to help as much as we can in providing the information you need, when you want it, where you want it.

That’s why we’re proud to announce the launch of our Election ‘08 Spotlight page. With content from our news partners, NBC News, MSNBC and Fox News, we’ll be adding all the content we can surrounding the election, for the first time in one place on Hulu, so you can have a bookmark that can provide you with the news you need to make your decision come November 4th.

When you’re as nuts about quality as we are, it can lead to some long hours, and getting home in time to catch some of the really important events can be tough. In that vein, I’m even more excited to announce that for the first time in Hulu history, we’ll be live streaming the second and third presidential debates, so you’ll be able to catch one of the more important events of this election cycle. Check them out on our Election ‘08 Spotlight page. Hope to see you there!

Travis (travis.mccann@hulu.com),
Hulu Political Correspondent

Election News and Commentary on Hulu

Travis McCann — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:30:06 +0000

I have always been riveted by the American political process. I love the energy of a political campaign, the devotion of the people who volunteer their time and donate their money in hopes that their candidate will be the one to raise their right hand and repeat the words “I solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of…”

This last year, I have seen this energy greatly increased, cynicism bowled over, and hope returned. Millions of new voters have rushed to the polls in the primaries on both sides of the aisle, with vigor that hasn’t been seen in decades, and certainly not in my lifetime.

I’ve stayed up all night to watch the results from the past four general elections, and I love few things more than getting the information I want about the campaigns and the late-breaking developments as soon as I can. That’s why I’m happy to say that Hulu is bringing you the latest and greatest election and political updates through our newest news partner, MSNBC. We’ve got The Today Show to get you through your morning, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams for those late-breaking developments I was talking about. If you’re interested in more detail, a little Meet the Press should be right up your alley. And of course we’ll be bringing you everything we can from the Denver Democratic National Convention (DNC).

For more political coverage, tune in to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which returns from a brief hiatus to report on “Indecision 2008″ from the DNC, as well. And with America’s Election HQ, a daily wrap-up of the day’s political events, Fox News keeps you on top of the latest issues.

See you in the first hundred days!

Travis McCann
Hulu Political Correspondent