…where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, oh won’t you please take me home?

While there’s little doubt that this current presidential election has been historic on a number of levels, it certainly has been an incredible study in the power of interactive marketing and the establishment of a robust digital dialogue with voters.

Though this has translated into a number of different tactical efforts from both campaigns, perhaps one of the more unexpected executions is the appearance of in-game Obama campaign ads in the latest version of the Xbox 360 title Burnout Paradise.

Sure, the notion of Obama campaigning in a virtual world may be an amusing thought, but remember this: according to eMarketer, overall US in-game advertising spends reached $295 million in 2007 and is predicted to reach $650 million by 2012. This number includes more than just console games for Xbox and Playstation, but online, PC and casual gaming sites as well.

And before you start to think that in-game advertising is all about reaching a teen, young adult audience or the geeks that still live in mom’s basement, thing again. According to the Entertainment Software Association, “four out of 10 US video gamers in July 2008 were female and that women ages 18 and older accounted for one-third of game players, compared with only 18% for boys ages 17 and younger.”