Politicos beware: You live in YouTube's world.

George Allen isn't even the only senator caught on video making an odd comment to an Indian American. Sen. Joe Biden (D) of Delaware appears on YouTube chatting with a young Indian American man about the explosive growth of the Indian population in his state, and elaborates with this: "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.... I'm not joking."

Senator Allen's exchange with Mr. Sidarth, a senior at the University of Virginia (UVA), Charlottesville, is more controversial. Last Friday, Allen was campaigning before a crowd in Breaks, Va., and then began addressing Sidarth, the only nonwhite person in the crowd, who Allen knew had been tracking his campaign all week for Democratic opponent Jim Webb. Allen called him "Macaca" at least twice, and then said, "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

Sidarth, who was born in Virginia to Indian parents, handed the video to the Webb campaign, which posted it on YouTube. Thus was launched a political brouhaha that could seriously damage any hopes Allen might have of running for president in 2008, though probably not his bid for reelection to the Senate. Sidarth himself is well aware of the power of the camcorder.

"If I had been there and not had a camera with me, absolutely no one would have believed my side of the story," he says.

The UVA government major says he has yet to hear from Allen directly with an apology, though Allen did issue a statement to the media apologizing "to anyone who may have been offended by the misinterpretation of my remarks." On Wednesday, Allen met with Indian American political leaders to mend fences.

Allen has also said he has no idea what "macaca" means, triggering speculation as to how he came to use that term. The campaign's official explanation is that it was a version of "Mohawk," the nickname campaign workers had come up with for Sidarth, based on his hairstyle. Unfortunately for Allen, he chose a word with various meanings: It is the genus for macaque monkeys. In Europe, it can also be a slur against African immigrants.

If nothing else, the widely publicized flap has put all politicians on notice that they can never let their guard down. That pesky constituent following you all the way to your campaign bus may be wielding a recording device, and it's best to remain polite. Conveying context can still be problematic with videos. And there's always the possibility of technological trickery, à la Photoshop. But this new ability to post and share videos is nothing short of revolutionary in the political world of message management and image making.

Says Cornfield: "There's nothing in our world that seems to have the immediate impact of seeming to convey the whole truth and watching something come out of somebody's mouth, [with] your own eyes."

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