When Machiavelli warned “before all else, be armed,” he probably couldn’t envision how a Youtube videoblogger known as richprince78 would use his advice a few hundred years down the line. Armed with his camera and the support of a buzzing new media presence at the DNC, Iowa City-based Rich Peters, the winner of a joint Youtube/DNC video competition, is one of thousands of new media troops swarming the Democratic National Convention this week to promote their cause.

Shameless DNC PR stunt? Absolutely. But if you’re looking for an on-the-ground look at life at the convention, the kid-with-camera strategy is nifty enough. Peters, a recent law school graduate, has been chronicling his adventures stumping for the Obama campaign since he joined up last November. After Youtube fans voted him in for the DNC slot, he hit the trail with the traveling press pool and roamed the halls of the Pepsi Center, picking up interviews with delegates, activists, protestors, and even NEWSWEEK’s very own Jonathan Alter along the way. All of which is to say that his Youtube channel, www.youtube.com/richprince78, is pretty well stocked, while maintaining that down-home raw footage charm.

His winning video-an animated run-down of Obama talking points, shown here--will get its national debut at Mile High Stadium Thursday night. For a less rehearsed clip, check out his footage of the mob of bloggers at the two-story New Media tent set up by Google, Youtube, Digg and others. Of the 500 stationed at the ‘Big Tent,’ 125 are credentialed to roam the Pepsi Center and thousands of others are capturing the action on the outside. Armed indeed.