JibJab, the production company that brought online political satire to the general public with its last presidential race parody, launched a new installment, this time at the behest of Jay Leno's Tonight Show. The brief viral video makes fun of the Bush Administration's ties to Halliburton, Dan Rather's recent journalism troubles and a lack of manliness on the Kerry-Edwards ticket. Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, one of the Spiridellis brothers noted that the last one "turned out to be lightning in a bottle. You can't do that every time." In fact, the second installment is shorter, less funny and just a bit cruder.

While these political shorts are studiously non-partisan, the vast and rapid viral distribution of the videos showed an example to both candidates and companies that, with "lightning in a bottle" creative, the viral medium can produce break-away media success. This second installment, despite its primetime launch on NBC, may not have the creative power to do that.