The Web on the Candidates

As reported by James Kotecki, Wesley Clark has started to produce videos for his website, stopIranWar.com. While Kotecki is upset that Clark isn't mentioning Kotecki's name responding directly to voters, it's an encouraging step and a sign that Clark may be getting closer to announcing his candidacy.

Giuliani's video closet: PrezVid's Peter Hauck has some advice for Rudy: "Buckle Up, It's Gonna Be a Bumpy Ride." After listing the many of Rudy's less-than-conservative merits, Hauck posts two videos -- one a mayoral campaign video from 1989 showing a very family-friendly Rudy, the other a "Welcome to CPAC" video showcasing Rudy's liberal positions on social issues -- that should provide fodder for his conservative critics in weeks and months to come.

The Web on the Candidates

John Edwards advisor Joe Trippi is in the U.K., telling British politicians that "Internet activism is spelling the end for the age of spin." In an interview with the Guardian, Trippi talked about the always-on nature of online campaigning. "Before TV, what mattered was how your voice sounded. Then with TV it matters what your candidate looks like ... We are now moving to a medium where authenticity is king, from what things look like to what's real ... You have to be 'on' 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Trippi said. He describes the new world of politics in the "peer-to-peer social network world," in which the opinion of peers is worth more than a top-down campaign message. While no candidates in the U.S. - including Edwards -- are completely running this kind of campaign, David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party in the U.K., continues his engaged web presence with multiple videos a week and an active community blog.

The FEC has produced a very cool map showing most campaign contributions to presidential candidates (PAC money and contributions under $200 aren't represented). A bunch of bubbles are overlaid over a map of the U.S., and when you click on the name of a candidate (listed to the left) you'll see the areas that have donated to them; click on the bubbles and you'll get a close-up view of that region; click on them again and you'll see a list of individual donors and the amount they contributed. (hat tip: Hotline)

Fallout from Elizabeth Edwards' quote; Rocketboom on how Denver '08 will be open access; cracks in the liberal-left; bundling for the unbundled; Ellen Goodman weighs in on net-gender; YouTube YouChoose has issues; ABC and NBC liberate pres-video; Republicans use the net for stealth attacks; and we win an award...

The problems of comparing ActBlue to ABC PAC; a profile of Robert Bluey's Conservative Bloggers Briefings; and why aren't more candidates using Google Adwords to advertise against news- and issues-based keywords?

Reactions across the web to the first MySpace/MTV Presidential Dialogue with John Edwards; capturing the youth vote is just about showing up on Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube; an anti-Hillary Clinton Facebook group continues to grow; a new rock video promotes fact-checking site Politifact; a strange story about John Edwards, a woman he met in a bar, and some hard-to-find promotional videos; a profile of young and energetic Ron Paul supporters; ActBlue is now helping local politicians raise money; and the winner of Mitt Romney's ad contest is announced, and no, it isn't the creator of the "Way!" video.

Slate writers on the glories of Google Suggest; James Kotecki officially joins the Politico; are DailyKos' traffic numbers artificially inflated by Sitemeter?; the lack of social conservatives online; techPresident is profiled by the Washington Post; Leon Wolf leaves the Brownback campaign; Marc Ambinder thinks Chris Dodd's web team is the most innovative out there; Barack Obama and the 21st-century fireside chat; a report from Elizabeth Edwards' meetup with mommy bloggers; and Obama's blog outreach guy leaves the campaign.

Stephen Colbert gets a Facebook group; more data fun over at ronpaulgraphs.com; Barack Obama is the next participant in the MySpace/MTV Presidential Forum -- where are the Republicans?; Todd Zeigler on Obama's latest "personal" email.

We received an email today from Ole Tangen Jr., the English Editor of "The BOBs" telling us that techPresident has been nominated "as one of the best blogs in the world" out of more than 7,000 submitted. If you agree, go here to cast your votes for your favorites. Voting is open until November 15.

The Politico launches a young voter-themed sub-site; Debate Porridge calls the campaigns on a Saturday and finds that most of them aren't working; interesting numbers about the effectiveness of campaigns' web effectiveness from the Politico's Ryan Grim and Compete.com; a puff piece about Joe Trippi tracks his rise to de facto campaign manager of the Edwards campaign; and Stephen Colbert passes Bill Richardson in a poll and more than 500,000 are members of a pro-Colbert Facebook group.

Stephen Colbert gets more than one million supporters on Facebook; reactions to RedState's decision to restrict Ron Paul supporters from commenting; and GeniusRocket launches a voter-generated ad contest.