With a vow of "Ring it on!," the tech-activists behind RingTones08 -- a free site that lets anyone post and share ring tones about campaign '08 -- hope to use political soundbites to impact next year's presidential election.

Sound far-fetched? Perhaps not.

As Erica Sagrans wrote earlier this year in the Phoenix:

More than a million people have downloaded the “Hello Garci” ring tone — whose more than 11 versions variously incorporate samples from 50 Cent, Vanilla Ice, and the Beatles — making it one of the most popular clips to emerge from a cell phone. Yet the most provocative thing about “Hello Garci” is how it draws its inspiration not from a pop song, but a 2004 political scandal in which Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s voice was captured while she allegedly discussed vote-rigging with elections official Virgilio “Garci” Garcillano.
 
Before the audio tape was released, “people kind of knew what happened, but since they embargoed the wiretap, the story [about the election] wasn’t getting out,” says Jo Lee, a technology consultant in Providence. Once the tape was leaked and it became a ring tone, the recording was unstoppable. While impeachment attempts and mass protests failed to throw Macapagal-Arroyo out of office, her approval rating has been consistently negative since the recording was released.
 
“It’s brilliant,” says Lee. “The president’s most humiliating moment is played over and over, every time a cell phone rings. It would be so effective here; it’s this great bumper sticker approach to guerrilla politics.”

As part of her work with Green Machine PR, Lee sent along word of RingTones08, which has already attracted some national attention. And as the RingTones08 Web site says:

Our politicians' statements practically beg to be ringtones. "Mission Accomplished," "Last Throes of Insurgency," Howard Dean's scream . Turn these sound bytes gone wrong (or right!) into ringtones and let 'em rip at malls, campuses, bus stops - wherever cell phones ring.

Ringtones can be about any national or local candidate or issue. It's up to you.

You've done the blogs, videos and t-shirts. Now have some fun and RING!

The Tones!

• George_Allen_Macaca

  by hackcity

  Download

• Burdah

  by Ismail

  Download

• Don't Vote

  by Klaus Flouride

  Download

• John McCains Drummer

  by Klaus Flouride

  Download

• Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job

  by Eric Gundersen

  Download

• Bush on pre-war intelligence

  by Eric Gundersen

  Download

• Decider

  by Golden Meanie

  Download

• Fake Promises

  by Pat Crowley

  Download

• I've Got a Crush on Obama

  by RingTones08

  Download