In the red corner, appearing at the CNN Grill, it's Texas Governor and former presidential candidate Rick Perry. In the blue corner, live at the Austin Convention Center, it's environmental activist and former presidential candidate Al Gore.
Gentlemen, start your appeals to the Twitterati now.
If you need proof that politicians are paying more attention to the tech world than ever, look no further than these two appearances at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival over the last few days. These leading lights of left and right both saw the importance of the nerd-centric crowd, and both were last-minute additions to the schedule.
But their approaches to SXSW couldn't have been more different.
Perry's appearance Friday evening was low-key and extremely exclusive. Sitting on stage in the basement of the CNN Grill, where he was third to be interviewed after a pair of political consultants, the governor seemed pensive and humbled by his recent defeats in the Republican primaries.
His arm in a sling from recent surgery, Perry spoke slowly and quietly. The tech-centric crowd warmed to him when he casually thumbed at his iPhone, and claimed he was the only one of the GOP candidates who sends his every tweet unvetted from his own hand, a habit that he said gave his staff nightmares.
Perry was hard not to like, even for those who found his stance during the campaign distasteful or even bigoted. He largely eschewed politics during the interview, focusing instead on the fact that Apple is about to bring 36,000 new jobs to the state of Texas. And he was self-deprecating about his defeat, vowing that if he ever ran again he would invest more time in debate prep and "always remember the third thing."
Gore, who helped deliver those jobs as an Apple board member, seemed like he was at a different event entirely. His interviewer, no mere foil, was Sean Parker — co-founder of Napster, former president of Facebook, and investor in Votizen, a startup that helps you find like-minded voters. And the location was one of the Convention Center's largest ballrooms, overflowing with attendees.
Where Perry was introspective, Gore was intensely political. His call to arms was delivered in an audience-appropriate soundbite. "Democracy has been hacked," he said, because it largely serves the interest of lobbyists rather than the people. He said he wanted to see the SXSW audience use the Internet to "occupy democracy."
The Vice-President worried — as author Malcolm Gladwell has in the past — that the Internet creates "weak ties" between activists, instead of the strong social ties used to effect change in the past. But Egypt's Facebook revolution and the whole Arab spring was a strong rebuttal to Gladwell. As was the surprisingly effective SOPA protest earlier this year, which Parker dubbed the "nerd spring."
We can use the Internet to effect change, Gore admitted. "It is going to happen. But how long? It depends on whether you feel passionate about it and get involved."
Should politicians take the stage at a tech conference like SXSW? If so, should they emulate Gore or Perry? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Bonus: Scenes from SXSW
The mobile wallet software was a sponsor at SXSW.
Guy Kawasaki talked with Google's Vic Gondotra.
HBO was giving out free coffee and offering bike rentals to promote their new show, The Girls.
HIghlight, one of the most talked-about apps at SXSW, had this rolling promo, a modified shopping cart.
HootSuite had their own promotional vehicle: a giant owl bus.
James Franco had a panel at SXSW to promote his new social service, but he didn't show to his own event.
Lets hope that FullContact doesn't make all its employees wear these hats.
Mashable is offering free empanadas to SXSW goers for lunch. Stop by the truck if you're in Austin!
Today Show also had a food truck at SXSW. It's a popular way for brands to promote themselves.
Pepsi has this cool social media and data board--its made up of 12 HDTVs with an analog scroller at the top.
Power is a precious commodity here--we're all gathered around the Belkin power pods at the Chevy Volt booth
@RobertScoble is a notable face at SXSW. Here he is with Ed Baig.
The lines on Friday to pick up badges were more than three hours long.
The crowds were filling up the Austin Convention Center as well.
Samsung's Genome Project lets you know how you're connected to the athletes at the Summer Olympics.
These lockers from AT&T hold chargers for all kinds of smartphones--and they look neat, too.
Yes, Austin is a weird place -- this was the setup at a food cart-go figure.
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