The Web on the Candidates

• Craig Says Techies Back Dem Ticket: "Far as I can tell, most if not all the people in my industry who get stuff done are for barack," says Craigslist's Craig Newmark, in introducing a Tech for Obama video in which industry figures like Rob Glaser of Real Networks and former Wired editor Peter Leyden praise Obama. Now, there are more than a few tech titans who back McCain -- former HP head Carly Fiorina is one, of course. But there's also Cisco's John Chambers, who has one of the biggest footprints in the tech world. Maybe right-brain software and web folk lean Obama and left-brain hardware gurus lean McCain? Not quite: Spore designer and gaming icon Will Wright has been chipping in big money to the RNC of late and eBay's Meg Whitman is McCain's national campaign co-chair. That said, Craig's picked up on the fact that from the rank-and-file to bold-faced names, tech world figures for Obama do seem to be more vocal than their McCain-backing counterparts. #

• [INSERT TALENT] for Barack: Our good friend Josh Levy points us to Hungry for Obama, a political pyramid scheme in the best possible sense. Started by four San Francisco Barack backers, each dinner guest pledges to host his or her own foodie fundraiser for the Democratic ticket. Hungry for Obama, which is said to have raised nearly $10,000 for the campaign thus far, joins the plethora of other grassroots efforts that aim to tap into supporter talents and expertise to support the Obama campaign. Bake sales and crafts and cocktails for Obama, jazz for Obama, designers/singers/runners/argula eaters for Obama, and Obama-inspired microbrews and jazz concerts all channel the creativity and talents of small cells of self-organized activists into fundraising for Obama. On the other side, Google returns two results for "bake sale for McCain" -- and both entries are mocking the idea. #

• What We Heard Most on Friday Night: Twitter's Biz Stone has a look at what terms were most popular on the micro-blogging network during last week's debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. The most Twittered term in a one-minute span was "Iraq," reports Biz, "just after McCain's assertion that Obama did not visit the area for 900 days." Via a line graph, Biz has correlated a few of the terms with what the candidates were saying at the time. It's a neat way to see which speech nuggets registered in the consciousness of Twittering debate followers -- like McCain's fact-dropping that North Koreans are, on average, shorter than their neighbors to the south by three inches, a line that blew by me while watching the debate. Also, be sure to check in on C-SPAN's Debate Hub, where a lovely "word tree" representation of the debate shows by color block how often each candidate used certain terms. Obama was big on "president," "tax," and "billion," while McCain most frequently invoked "spending," "united," "people," and "cut." #

• Pledge Your Vote, Get a Concert: iLike, the popular social music service that helps people share music recommendations and playlists, is sponsoring a Facebook-based contest aimed at college kids. The challenge? Get your friends to pledge to vote. The reward? A concert by either Jason Mraz or Will.i.am and Wyclef Jean. A nifty pop-up lets you publish your promise to your News Feed so that everyone in your network is given a subtle kick in the pants to do the same. But do non-binding vote pledges really get the job done? Future Majority's guide to Mobilizing the Youth Vote (pdf) says yes indeedy: "Research (and common sense) tells us that if a young person 'pledges' to vote they do vote in higher numbers. Groups like YDA and the PIRGs have been using pledge cards for years and it works." Just six days left in the contest. #

The Candidates on the Web

• Tech and the Ground Game: "It's the difference between open and closed source." That's the RNC's "eCampaign" director Cyrus Krohn on the Obama and McCain approaches to using technology to power their operations, as quoted by CIO Insight's Ed Cone in a four-part article he's working on concerning the Obama campaign's ground game. Have a look at Ed's drafts: part one sets up the themes, part two looks at how volunteers in small-town North Carolina are using the tools, part three evaluates the nuts and bolts powering the Democratic operation, and part four explores how mobile tools like text and Twitter are shaping the landscape. The big question is how a great ground game can swing a close race. Joe Trippi puts it at 2-3%, but we're thinking there's more art than science in that assessment. The Seminal's Ian Fried has a great look at why he thinks that the boots Obama has put on the ground might bring home a win in some battleground states. #

TechCongress and Beyond

• Each of Us a Lobbyist: With all eyes on Congress's haggling over the bailout bill these days, it might not hurt to have a full directory of the 535 electeds on Capitol Hill handy on your iPhone. Check out Congress in Your Pocket, which, for under ten bucks, comes complete with bios, committee assignments, staff contacts, and more. Amaze your friends by quickly identifying that freshman backbencher. (Thanks Josh Levy) #

In Case You Missed It...

With many of federal government sites unresponsive yesterday after the bailout bill went down in flames, Nancy Scola suggests that dead websites are perhaps not the best way to calm a jittery populace.

Fresh off a talk about the future of digital politics, Zephyr Teachout highlights Sporge Bush, McSpore, and other political Spore creatures.

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