The Web on the Candidates

• Now that Ron Paul has raised a huge chunk of money in a very short period of time, establishment journalists and pundits are taking notice. The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz (whose column is establishment central) rounds up the reactions from inside-the-Beltway conservatives including David Frum (who’s working for Rudy Giuliani and therefore dismisses Paul’s effect on the Republicans), Andrew Sullivan (happy as a clam), CBN’s David Brody (another dismissal and a lame Gilligan’s Island reference), and Power Line’s Paul Mirengoff (surprise! A dismissal: “Ron Paul is not a serious force at this juncture…”). More than anything else, Kurtz’s post is a good reminder of how pundits are continuing to ignore a major power shift happening under their noses.

• A new phony email campaign is accusing Barack Obama of refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag, providing a picture — of Hillary Clinton with her hand on her heart standing next to Obama with his arms folded — as evidence. Obama has calmly shrugged off the claims and says the picture was taken during a recital of the Star Spangled Banner. For the last time: just because you receive random information in a forwarded email, that doesn’t mean it’s true. That Nigerian doesn’t want to safely transfer $1 million into your bank account, and Barack Obama wasn’t refusing to recite the pledge.

• An online presence greatly benefits a candidate, but the web is also a haven for negative campaigning, writes the Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas. For example, some of the most notable political activity of the campaign has been directed against Hillary Clinton, rather than for another candidate. “Remember the ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’ that Hillary Clinton talked about in the late ’90s? Well, it’s the ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’ gone online — and then some,” the New Politics Institute’s Peter Leydon told Vargas.

• A John Edwards supporter named “hopita122,” writing on her blog on his site, says that a recent MoveOn email campaign apparently favored Hillary Clinton over the other Democratic candidates. The email, which she quotes in full, touts Clinton’s energy plan and asks members to thank her by going to a special page on her website. Links to the other candidates’ energy plans are linked to below the rest of the email, without the extended treatment enjoyed by Clinton. Is MoveOn tacitly supporting Clinton, or have they sent out other, targeted emails trumpeting other candidates’ plans?

• OffTheBus and the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, the New York City NPR affiliate, are teaming up for a new citizen journalism research project. The story, as it was described on the show this morning, is asking volunteers to help discover the financial impact of Bill Clinton on Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Brian Lehrer has been getting into “wisdom-of-the-crowd” journalism as of late, and it’s great to see him teaming up with OffTheBus, which, with the recent addition of journalist Marc Cooper, has been producing some fantastic new projects.

The Candidates on the Web

• The Hollywood writers that have gone on strike, but Slate’s Bruce Reed needs some fresh content. In search of lively banter and reassuring narratives, he went to an obvious source: the Romney sons’ Five Brothers blog! His summary of the latest wacky incidents in the lives of Mitt Romney’s sons — “In one particularly touching episode, Tagg fessed up that he had once been ‘young and foolish’ enough to think about leaving the GOP, but was glad he stuck with ‘Dad’s message of strength’ instead” — should not be missed.

In Case You Missed It…

Is no one reading Giuliani’s blog? Continuing with the recent exciting news from the Republican side of our little presidential campaign, Bruce Reed notes in Slate that Rudy Giuliani’s official blog seems to be acting in sympathy with Hollywood writers — except that instead of the writers striking, it’s the readers, reports Colin Delany.

Following in the footsteps of the SEIU, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) hasn’t endorsed a presidential candidate. But that hasn’t stopped them from sending out an email to members that (nudge nudge, wink wink) links to a video statement from John Edwards.

Zephyr Teachout gauges the reaction from Godbloggers to Pat Robertson’s endorsement of Rudy Giuliani. “Wow. I am dumbfounded. Now lets get back to talking about the politics of torture and how it relates to Christianity,” writes one.