Typically the only Mainers who get national exposure for their viral videos are the guys over at Eepybird.com whenever they roll out a wacky new experiment.

But over this last weekend, it wasn't a couple of guys in lab coats and some exploding Diet Coke - it was a local TV anchor and a presidential candidate.

People outside of Portland got familiar with WCSH 6's Rob Caldwell after the anchor's interview with Republican Presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday.

The interview took place on WCSH's news magazine "207," and while it's not uncommon for candidates to do soft interviews with local media, (Think "Do you enjoy lobster?" "When was the last time you were in Maine?") the video has garnered attention because of the anchor's questioning and the candidate's answers.

In particular, this exchange over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's qualifications for the vice presidency, has gotten a lot of interest:

(McCain goes on to tie in America's dependence on foreign sources of oil as a national security problem.)

By Friday afternoon the video was beginning to spread and had already appeared on video sharing sites such as YouTube, and was beginning to make the rounds on left-leaning blogs such as Daily Kos.

As of today the video has received more than 3,300 diggs on Digg.com and is up on Reddit.

National news programs such as "Meet the Press" and "Bill Moyers Journal" also picked up the entire video or segments over the weekend.

Other political blogs have taken notice, including The Huffington Post, Wonkette and CBS News' Political Animal.

While we could call this "the anatomy of a viral video," aren't there some political (and maybe journalistic) lessons as well, like thanks to the Internet, every interview counts and the distance between "small market" and "big market" seems to be shrinking.

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