The Web on the Candidates

More on the Ron Paul madness: although Paul barely registers in nationwide polls about the Republican presidential contenders, he actually won ABC's online poll following last week's Republican debate, garnering more than 9,400 of 11,000 votes as of mid-day Monday. ABC News, which apparently feels like it's been punk'd, chalks it up to "Paul supporters [who] have mastered the art of 'viral marketing,' using Internet savvy and blog postings to create at least the perception of momentum for his long-shot presidential bid." Meanwhile, Todd Zeigler has a more lengthy analysis of why Paul is so hot on Digg, noting that, in the absence of mainstream coverage, Paul's supporters are turning to Digg (Democrat Mike Gravel is also starting to get dugg), and Digg readers have been receptive. The result? A submission trying to get Paul on the Daily Show has attracted over 5,500 diggs.

DomeNation, the bi-partisan Internet TV project started by MyDD's Jerome Armstrong TechPresident's David All, posted its first interview yesterday, with Senator John Kerry. Kerry was open and friendly during the interview, in which, among other things, he discussed YouTube and the role of the Internet in politics. He talked about posting on Firedoglake and name-checked an impressive array of bloggers. "They're the new medium, the new ways of communicating with people... they've been a terrific truth and accountability squad," he said.

Allison Fine, live and online, taking questions about Rebooting America and her work.

The UK's Open Rights Group campaigns on issues like copyright reform, electronic voting, network neutrality and online privacy. Ask Executive Director Becky Hogge about their work.

PdF's new email newsletter, the Policy Not Politics Weekly Roundup, will discuss what the rise of the networked age means for small 'g' governance

We'll maintain a calendar for "policy (and maybe some politics)" events and conferences. Upcoming events include Netsquared, a call for participants for MobileActive08 in South Africa and Community Wireless in DC. Keep up with the variety of events that touch upon the future of democracy and participatory governance.

One of the bi-products of interest in government 2.0 issues by the web 2.0 crowd is lively networking. Not only do we have a busy calendar of live and virtual events, we're seeing emergence of lots of virtual groups too. Here's some that have caught my eye.

We know YouTube is big in campaigns and capable of changing outcomes. But what about in the policy space? Congress wrestles with the YouTube logo while in the UK the PM partners. Ultimately, video of a blocked latrine makes things change.

Mark Klein of The MIT Center for Collective Intelligence is working on, among other things, "The Collaboratorium. An online platform to "help large groups efficiently arrive at well-founded conclusions."

Join our live interview series. Participate in upcoming interviews with Mark Tovey, editor of "Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace," and Gary Bolles, CEO of Xigi.

Debategraph brings collaboration to Obama's VP selection process -- add your analysis. David Price, co-founder of Debategraph, will be taking question live and online tomorrow -- ask him about the process.