The holograms are coming to politics part 3: the US edition

Following their appearances in France and India on the election trail, holograms are now set to make an appearance in US campaigning too:

Democratic presidential hopeful and entrepreneur Andrew Yang this week unveiled a new campaign technique that will allow him to be in two places at once: holograms.

Yang deputed his 3D hologram during a Wednesday segment on TMZ Live, featuring him performing a duet alongside a famous hologram of rapper Tupac Shakur. [The Hill]

As I pointed out back in 2013 when predicting the rise of holograms in political campaigning:

Once holograms become widespread, it will seem perfectly natural for canvassers to go out armed with a hologram, ready to deploy the candidate and select the right mini-stump speech depending on what issue the person found behind each door is interested in. In fact, this is but a logical step up from the US canvassers who in the past have gone out armed with handheld devices armed with a selection of short films, again ready to select the most apposite one depending on who is behind the door.

Imagine too the use of holograms to let an elected official off in the capital city to appear at a meeting in their constituency without having to travel back and forth in the middle of a debate on a key piece of legislation. Or the use of an electronic pop-up version of the candidate to make sure they can give speeches at three different events at the same time. Technology will mean mere mortals can do the sort of simultaneous fringe meeting appearances that until now have been the preserve of Simon Hughes.