It's been a busy week in the 2008 presidential campaign--Hillary Clinton launched her online "conversation" (see David Weinberger's spot-on critique) and went to Iowa; John Edwards also did an online video web-chat that he calls a "live online discussion"; Barack Obama laid low and let the explosive growth of one unofficial Facebook group (now at more than 158,000 members) speak for him; and Bill Richardson formally announced his campaign launch.

Not surprisingly, the Democratic candidate who showed the most growth in online grassroots support, as measured by trends in the number of friends they have on their MySpace page and in incoming blog posts to their campaign site was Richardson, whose MySpace numbers were up a whopping 61,100% and blog posts up 285.8%. Of course, those numbers have to be put into context. A week ago, Richardson had only one friend on MySpace; as of last night (Sunday, January 28), he had 611. His incoming blog link tally, as measured by Technorati, jumped from an anemic 92 to a still feeble 355. But, hey, you have to start somewhere.

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) launched his presidential campaign, via web video, in a hail of controversy regarding comments he made in reference to fellow Democrat, Senator Barack Obama (IL). Within hours, the audio of his remarks made it to YouTube, as did a clip of FOX News -- no stranger to an Obama controversy -- airing Biden's clarification. The senator later joked about it with The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart. (Video here.)

In South Carolina, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is determined to win as he picked up the support of forty State House members -- all caught on video -- via Laurin Manning of South Carolina '08.

Jake Tapper, senior national correspondent for ABC News, has a series of web videos outlining the historical racial insensitivities of presidential aspirant, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE).

Copies of Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) "I'm in" video has appeared on YouTube and, collectively, amassed over 7,100 views, according to Donna Bogatin at ZDNet. However, the official upload, Bogatin writes, is not a "viral video sensation," registering only 550 views and eight subscribers to the "hillarydotcom" channel.

ZDNet tech blogger Donna Bogatin examines the online outreach of Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and the results are mixed. She labeled his announcement speech "staid" and failing to make him stand out from other candidates declaring online. Questioning Biden's ability to connect to potential voters, Bogatin writes, "Perhaps Jill [Biden] should give Joe lessons in networking" after photos of the senator's wife receive more attention than the senator himself.

Jeremy Bronson, reporting for MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, chronicled how candidates are combating the YouTube effect and trying to turn it around in their favor.

Social network scholar Fred Stutzman takes a look at Barack Obama's new social networking site and how all candidates should view social networking sites: "Companies like Youtube and Myspace succeeded because they embraced openness... The candidate who embraces this mentality will make the most sense to the netvoter, as our sensibilities have changed significantly over the past few years."

Eve Fairbanks thinks that candidates' plunge into MySpace and Facebook and other facets of online pop culture isn't cool at all: "assimilating Internet tactics doesn’t mean you have to assimilate Internet culture, too: the unhinged language, the fake intimacy, the studied hipness." Who's to blame? Howard Dean: "Political consultants and aspiring candidates were wowed by the way Dean used the Internet to create energy and momentum behind his upstart campaign. They envied the way young people, inspired by the concept of the Web as 'people power,' were transformed into Deaniacs in droves."

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The Web on the Candidates

YouTube can be friend and enemy to a campaign, reports the Mercury News. The ubiquity of cell phone cameras and online video can make candidates extremely wary the YouTube effect, but they can also use it to their advantage. "One slip, and it's out so fast and goes so far. You're more exposed, but you can react faster, too, so it cuts both ways," Bruce Hildebrand says.

Jeff Jarvis recently launched Prezvid, a blog that covers presidential campaigns' use of video, and his video post about John McCain's use of video is spot on. Jarvis critiques McCain's over-produced videos -- rightly pointing out that his videos look like they're meant for the large screen, but they'll only be seen on computer screens -- and offers unsolicited advice and how to make better use the increasingly important medium.

The Web on the Candidates

Marianne Richmond at Blog the Campaign in 08 takes a look at the blog on Hillary Clinton's site and find something missing: Hillary.

Mitt Romney is trying his best to replicate Barack Obama's Facebook popularity. However, the University of Arizona's student paper, the Wildcat, points out: "Of the 36 posted photos of Romney's life and campaign, he seems to only interact with white people. (Note to the Romney 2008 campaign: These things can be both an asset and a liability.)"

The Web on the Candidates

Heather Greenfield of Technology Daily writes about the use of Google Adwords and Google-bombing in political campaigns. Despite search-engine operators' objections, bloggers from the left and right -- people like Chris Bowers of MyDD and John Hawkins of Right Wing News -- have used Google bombing to influence Google's search results.

TechPresident blogger David All has a poll up on his site asking readers, "Which website/service will have the most impact during the 2008 Presidential campaign?" So far, 18 out of 21 voters have chosen YouTube. Giuliani advisor Patrick Ruffini rightly suggests, however, that we don't yet know what the killer app in 2008 will be: "...the killer app of 2008 hasn’t been invented yet. It will be invented in a garage in August of this year, start gaining critical mass by the end of the fourth quarter, and be on the tip of everyone’s tongue by the middle of next year."

The Web on the Candidates

Todd Zeigler at the Bivings Report responds to Giuliani consultant Patrick Ruffini and techPresident's David All's discussion about what technologies will have the greatest impact in the 2008 election. He names Ning, a social network creation tool; Mozes, a text message broadcast app; Twitter, a status updater using IM, email, and text messaging; NowPublic, a user-generated news source; and MyBlogLog, a social networking service focused on blogs.

Videoblogger James Kotecki (who's now working with Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network) posts about John McCain's video strategy. Unlike Jeff Jarvis, who thinks that "McCain’s videos may be ready for prime time, but not for YouTube," Kotecki showers praise on McCain's short, highly-produced videos, which he says can double as both online videos and TV ads.