• Small Donations, Mid-Sized Donors, and Obama's Cash "Revolution": A much-discussed new report from the Campaign Finance Institute looks at Barack Obama's fundraising records and calls into question what it calls the "myth" that the campaign was powered by small donors. Indeed, a whopping 49% of the contributions came in small bites -- $200 or less. But, the report finds, just 26% came from donors whose total contributions amounted to less than $200, a figure comparable to that of George Bush, John Kerry, and John McCain. Still, compared to those peers, a bigger chunk of Obama's contributions came from donors in the mid-range between $200 and $1000 -- though Obama still enjoyed the support of big donors who chipped in above the $1000 mark. Our Micah Sifry says the continued role those big guns makes for "a partial revolution, at best." But is there a qualitative difference between, say, a donor who kicked Obama $50 at a time online for a grand total of $500 -- including during periods the candidate looks like a long shot, and perhaps through the Obama campaign's "recurring contribution" program -- and one who hands over a $500 check to a campaign official at a grin-and-grab event? The Politico's Ben Smith says that the report's findings shake no myth he's ever believed. Additional looks at the report come from The New York Times' Michael Luo and ABC News' Jake Tapper. (Note Tapper's response from the Obama campaign, which puts the total number of donors at "3.95 million Americans," rather than the 3 million figure cited in the report.)

• "There's Still a Big Hole in Our Game Plan...": "And that's the Internet," laments Republican National Committee chair hopeful Chip Saltsman, in Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio Vargas's look at the right's efforts to rebuild online. Vargas's piece features techPresident contributors Mindy Finn and Patrick Ruffini, two of the minds behind the RebuildtheParty.com effort to remake the GOP "from the grassroots up." Bloggers on the right, says Ruffini, need to learn from the online left "to be activists, too," says Ruffini -- as concerned about down-ballot races as internecine ideological battles. These online activists are eager to lean on the party establishment from the outside, though the Republican National Committee shows signs it's willing to embrace tech. Vargas quotes current RNC chairman Mike Duncan saying, "I've got three BlackBerrys. I've got a Kindle." Related: Finn and Ruffini are doing a washingtonpost.com chat on the GOP and the Internet today at noon ET.

• Keeping Up the Democratic Web: But blogging alone didn't create Democrats' successes at the polls in '08. The Huffington Post's Sam Stein looks at the future of the progressive infrastructure, a puzzle made up of now-vibrant pieces: Center for American Progress (established 2003) Media Matters (est. 2004), Brave New Films (est. 2006), as well as SEIU and other revived union groups. "Behind the scenes," writes Stein, "they put in place a system that churned up opposition research, helped influence the media, charted out the electoral landscape, and was often seamless in delivering a message." Leadership on the left has come to embrace the movement approach to politics as standard operating procedure. Stein quotes outgoing Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean wishing that the DNC "becom[es] a grassroots organization."

• Kossacks Take to Congress: The Nation's Ari Melber has a look at Congress Matters, a new blog-based site led by Daily Kos front pager David Waldman, a.k.a Kagro X. The collaborative effort aims to "bring the community-based political watch party that we've built at Daily Kos to the United States Congress," by focusing on legislative activism rather than tweaking the nascent Obama Administration. Recent topics include the ins and outs of the epic battle royale between Henry Waxman and John Dingell for the chairmanship of the critical House Energy and Commerce committee. Congress Matters plays off the Kos brand, with its familiar peachy-orange hyperlinks.

• Open-Source Obama: Prominent tech world figure and open-source advocate Doc Searls has taken to Linux Journal to "claim Linux-based geek paternity for the successful presidential campaign of Barack Obama." Searls traces that ancestry way back to the '04 Dean campaign, and has an appropriately in-the-weeds look at the technology -- open-source and otherwise -- that powered the Obama campaign. (via Joe Trippi)

• Call for Papers for Computers, Freedom, and Privacy '09: The next annual Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference will take place in Washington on June 1st through 4th. CFP is an often provocative look at social impact of computing and technology. This year's them is "Creating the Future." With its DC location, CFP '09 may well be a chance to bring together figures from the Obama Administration, law enforcement communities, and intelligence world. You might want to consider submitting a paper or workshop idea. The deadline is December 19th.

In Case You Missed It...

With an eye on the non-profit world, Sarah Granger considers election '08 as "a sweeping mandate to expand our technological infrastructure for the public good."

W. David Stephenson says the sort of liberation of government data that fueled the District of Columbia's recent Apps for Democracy contest "may in fact revolutionize the relationship between government and citizens." And Matthew Burton has this to say about the contest: "The Washington, DC government just procured 47 Web-based tools in 30 days" and at low cost. "This is good news in any year," writes Matthew. "But this year, it is a blessing."

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