The Web on the Candidates

• Is Hillary Clinton’s political Viagra running out? Last night, when I finally stopped hitting refresh on CNN.com and went to sleep, Clinton was beating Barack Obama in Indiana by a slim margin of 51% to 49%. That margin never changed. That result, combined with Obama’s 14-point victory in North Carolina, gave the pundits an excuse to declare a winner, something they’ve been chomping at the bit to do for a while now. “Obama vs McCain,” “The Nominee,” “…Options Dwindle…,” “Closer and Closer,” the headlines read. Meanwhile, kingmaker-wannabe Tim Russert basically annointed Obama as the nominee, giving others the chance to rush to do the same. But in a conference call today the Clinton spokesperson Howard Wolfson said there have “no discussions” about her dropping out. Testicular fortitude indeed!

• Meanwhile, Hillary has loaned herself another $6.4 million dollars, while sending out an email with only an indirect call for money. She cancelled today’s public appearances too; it looks like her campaign will be taking stock for at least a day. Barack is counting on a “flood” of superdelegates, according to George Stephanopoulos, and the Obama campaign sent them a memo pointing to his magic number — he needs 172 total delegates to clinch the nomination. What does this have to do with the web? Nothing, but we thought you should know.

• Slate has been keeping a Hillary Deathwatch for the last few months, posting the odds of her winning the nomination (today her chances are 4.2 percent). Finally, they’ve released a Deathwatch widget so you can all keep track of her sliding chances too.

  

  We know, it’s not the most flattering illustration. But check out Slate’s page to see the animation in action; she bobs up and down in the water.

• Last month we reported that Stephen Colbert’s “Celebrate the Democralypse!” contest on DonorsChoose.org had netted $91,000 for Pennsylvania schools from Barack Obama supporters, and only $15,000 from Hillary Clinton supporters. Now that discrepancy has widened, with Obama supporters raising $159,347 to Clinton supporters’ $29,220. Do the Barackians have deeper pocketbooks? Maybe they’re just more accustomed to giving, and giving, and giving. (Thx Craig)

The Candidates on the Web

• What’s in the water in Utah (besides salt)? Last year state representative Steve Urquhart launched Politicopia (the site seems to be down), a wiki-based site that invited the public to help draft legislation. Now comes word from IPDI’s Julie Barko Germany that that Senate President John Valentine is livestreaming scenes from his office. “It feels intimate, open, and exciting – three words not always associated with the online communications of an elected officials,” Germany says. The project “serves to demystify the halls of power,” Utah State Senate Chief Deputy Ric Cantrell says. This takes the notion of transparency to a new level; wouldn’t it be nice if we could all just gaze at governmental processes all day long on our laptops? Ok, maybe not.

In Case You Missed It…

Micah Sifry spent most of last night watching the Democratic election returns roll in, with the TV tuned to MSNBC but the sound turned down low, and his laptop in his hands, watching for live reaction and commentary on the event as it unfolded. Twitter, which has now become the web’s virtual water-cooler, was his main guide, but he wanted more.