You heard it here last

My iPod broke awhile back ("It's a hardware problem. . . . [I]f you want to fix it, try sending it to ikaput.com" --person at Apple authorized service center downtown). So, American through and through, I opted not to repair the thing: replaced it with a newerfangled iPod. And this acquisition finally prompted me to poke my nose into the iTunes Music Store "podcasts" section.

You know, to see what all the hype is about.

I know, I must live in a cave if I'm just discovering podcasts. But imagine my surprise at learning, upon investigating "all the hype," that Barack Obama has a podcast and that it's "highly rated." Now, I'm probably never going to listen to his podcast--it's at the end of a very long list of things I'd rather be listening to on the commuter train--but I'm impressed that his is the most conspicuous (if not the only) candidate podcast at the iTunes music store. The man is serious. I don't find similar podcasts at iTunes (or even looking around at the other candidates campaign websites).

You heard it here last: As stupid as they seem at first glance--even to a political junkie like me--these political-ad podcasts will ultimately prove not to be as irrelevant as they should be.