Warner Bros. is continuing its extensive viral marketing campaign for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight with an election year theme as Dentmobiles, vans promoting the candidacy of Harvey Dent for Gotham City DA, are dispatched to cities across the country during March.  Movie fans who go to the "I believe in Harvey Dent" Website can find news concerning the visits of the Dentmobiles.  In Chicago the Dentmobile denizens were giving away posters, placards, buttons and t-shirts -- all the paraphernalia of the modern political campaign.

The viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, which began at last year's San Diego Comic-Con (see "Art and Marketing at San Diego"), originally appeared to be focused on the character of the Joker (see "The Dark Knight Poster Revealed"), but after the death of Heath Ledger, who plays the Joker, it appears that the focus has now shifted to the character of Two-Face/Harvey Dent, who is portrayed in the film by Aaron Eckhart.  The Dark Knight, which opens July 18th, is certainly in the running to be the top comic-based movie of 2008, and if it achieves that goal, part of the credit will have to go to the film's low cost, high impact viral marketing campaign and its savvy use of the Internet.