While not the first political hopeful to make an appearance in the MMO Second Life, presidential candidate John Edwards is the first to get a virtual campaign office.

Jerimee Richir, who goes by the SL handle Jose Rote, volunteered to purchase virtual land in Second Life, set up, and run the office as a grassroots effort. Rote has stayed in touch with Edwards' campaign team, and claims their full support:

It is unofficial in that the campaign is not spending money, and I am not paid, however the campaign is aware that we are organizing in Second Life, and cooperating as much as they can.

ZDnet's Steve O'Hear asked whether a campaign in SL would have as much impact as a campaign on a social site with a much larger population-base, such as MySpace or FaceBook.

Rote notes that while SL numbers are smaller, many SL'ers have their own blogs as well, so the campaign gets spread in many different directions. SL'ers facination with user generated content also contributes to the buzz, with Edwards' slogans popping up on all sorts of in-game objects such as clothing, posters, and mail boxes.

Redaktisto Noble, an editor at Second Life News Network, says that getting the word out is as imporant as actually wooing voters:

I think that with the campaign season starting so early, it's more important to win volunteers and supporters than votes at this point. An SL presence encourages that as well as any other initiative I can think of.

CM: While a virtual office is great for getting the word out, it's also a lot harder to provide security. Real campaign offices can be picketed, but there's no danger of being swarmed by hundreds of flying phalli...

-Reporting from Canada, GP Correspondent Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes