The Web on the Candidates

• Hillary Clinton’s claim last week of a record $10 million haul after the Pennsylvania primary is still being dissected by the press. The Politico’s Kenneth Vogel writes that despite questions being raised (initially by Micah Sifry on this site) about the timing and accuracy of the claims, the Clinton camp was able to spin a positive message about the campaign in the mainstream media. The blogosphere was never quite convinced; there was a ton of chatter on techPresident and other sites picking apart the math and disputing the numbers. As the Washington Post noted, since so many of the claimed donations are in amounts below the FEC’s $200 reporting threshold, we may never be able to confirm these overnight claims from all the campaigns. But Chris Matthews and his ilk needed a story, and this one was ready made.

• Long-time conservative activist Richard Viguerie considers John McCain’s demand that the North Carolina GOP not air an ad calling Barack Obama “too extreme” for North Carolinians a gaffe, and it’s caused him to question McCain’s support for conservative issues. He’s polling conservatives about whether they think McCain is “too ‘soft’ to run an effective campaign.” Fifty-five percent of respondents think so. Bad news for McCain?

• Last week, when Barack Obama congratulated Hillary Clinton in his concession speech after the Pennsylvania primary, an audible “boo” was heard from his supporters. YouTube user CancerFilms put together a video showing all of Obama’s concessions from the past year (there aren’t that many) that shows his supporters becoming less and less gracious as time wears on. Are they tired of the race? Angry at Clinton? Hard to tell.

• In their latest column for the Politico, techPresident’s Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej write that thanks to the web, some of the hitherto forgotten facts about various political figures that have resurfaced with a vengeance over the past year.

• This is a fun diversion: the New York Times’ John Harwood takes a step back from the frenetic campaign and reminds us of what life was like in the pre-Clinton vs. Obama era. In October 2006, when Barack Obama said he was considering a run for the White House, gas cost $2.20 a gallon; Donald Rumsfeld was still directing the war in Iraq; and there was no iPhone. Also, 3.7 million Americans have passed away since then and 6.2 million Americans have gotten married. And techPresident was but a glint in its founders’ eyes.

The Candidates on the Web

• While most of those who listened to the audio of Barack Obama’s April 6 talk to San Francisco supporters on focused on his “bitter” comments, blogger Chris Chiasson noticed something else: an explicit reference to the open source movement and a discussion of the benefits of social networking technology. “We have an open source system,” Obama said. “For people to just grab onto good ideas. They start organizing their neighbors, organizing their friends. And, next thing you knew, we’d built the best political organization in the country.” Discussing what he’s looking for in a vice president, he made yet another nod toward open government: “I want someone who shares with me a bias for opening up government, having a rational discourse about how we’re gonna solve problems, a bias to empower individual citizens,” he told supporters. Partisan politics aside, this is cool stuff. (techRepublican David All has more on this, and a transcript, here).

• Speaking of Obama and data, Bloomberg’s Christopher Stern writes that, having gathered data from almost two million people via his own web site, Facebook, MySpace, and other sites, Obama’s list may be “the most powerful tool in U.S. politics.” In addition to refuting critics who still question the point of using online social networking sites, that power could make Obama one of the most powerful Democrats in the country, even if he doesn’t win the nomination. This rising power could be part of the reason why Bill Clinton, who’s been accustomed to being the top Democrat in the land, is so irked by Obama. In fascinating piece by the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza, a Bubba adviser says, “I think this campaign has enraged [Clinton]. He doesn’t like Obama.” Lizza also captures nicely how YouTube in particular has turned Bill Clinton into a politician out of his time.

In Case You Missed It…

As the Democratic primary process grinds on, the candidates’ supporters are using just about every electronic tool available to swing the race their way. Colin Delany has two cases in point from the Obama side: super.del.egates.us is a wiki-based contact list for voters to use to reach the precious unpledged delegates to the Democratic Convention, while Yrmomma4obama aims to help young voters (and those too young to vote themselves) to use text messages to persuade their friends and family to jump on the Obama bandwagon.

A month-old video featuring a very enthusiastic Hillary supporter brightened everyone’s Friday afternoon last week.

Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | John McCain
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