Hello Everyone! Welcome to the first day of the first week of Talking Change, About.com’s group blog devoted to the 2008 election. I’m excited to be moderating this blog and can’t wait to read your thoughts as this insanely long campaign enters its final few months. Let's jump right in.

Who knew at the end of last week that a new presidential candidate would enter the race? Paris Hilton kicked off her campaign with an online video that detailed her energy policy (for those who want to know, a combination of offshore drilling with government investment in new technologies). When Paris Hilton becomes part of our campaign discussions we can safely assume we’ve entered the silly phase of the election cycle.

But, really, if you watched the Olympics this weekend, you probably saw McCain’s ad calling Obama “the biggest celebrity in the world” at least a few times. McCain is obviously using the “celebrity” label to paint Obama as an out-of-touch lightweight. But both these men can safely be described as celebrities, can’t they? McCain has appeared in various movies and television shows and Obama has graced the cover of dozens upon dozens of glossy magazines, sometimes in his bathing suit.

My question is: Aren’t all of our really successful politicians a bit like Paris Hilton nowadays…or at least Sean Penn? Reagan was a famous actor. Bill Clinton is treated like a rock star nearly everywhere he visits in the world. Bush has maintained a cinematic control over his presentation in public (see “Mission Accomplished”). And is it bad for our politics when our statesmen behave like our pop stars? Half the job of being a good president is communicating your ideas to the public, so isn’t it basically a job requirement to understand how celebrity works in our celebrity worshiping society? Does it really worry any of you that McCain has appeared a few times on Saturday Night Live, and Obama is adored like Bono? And do you think McCain's ad will resonate with the American public?

--Daniel Levisohn