• Even after dropping a $20 million provision for resodding the National Mall, Barack Obama's $819 billion stimulus package came up with a big goose egg when it comes to Republican votes in the House. And that's not to mention the 11 "no" votes in the Democratic column. So is this when the President turns for backup to the masses of supporters he gained during the campaign?...
• The Sunlight Foundation's John Wonderlich has a wonderful post making a critical point: in the minds of many, government transparency is quickly transforming from a "what" to a "how"...
• Senator-in-limbo Norm Coleman's campaign staff is claiming that the combined attention of "tens of thousands" of disenfranchised and otherwise angry Minnesotans has brought his website crashing down...
• House Minority Leader John Boehner narrates a new four-minute behind-the-scenes look at how the stimulus bill vote went down in the House yesterday. It's pretty masterful work...
• And more.

• Patrick Ruffini is on to something. The conservative consultant is sounding an alarm that progressives would rather he'd rather just hush up about: the online right is seriously outgunned when it comes to political blogging happening on the local level...
• In a video that seems to have been filmed in an unfinished Ikea showroom, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe introduces Mitch Stewart as the new director of Organizing for America, a.k.a. Obama for America -- the Next Generation...
• When he was a presidential candidate, Obama's routing around the traditional press had a sticking-it-to-the-man quality that was appealing to many of us. But now that Obama is, categorically, the man, do his networks and projects like Organizing for America raise the specter of an American President let unchecked by a vigilant, watchdog press?...
• And even, if you can believe it, more.

• It was touch and go there for a while. Would Barack Obama emerge victorious from the first major face-off of his presidency? Would he prevail over the dark forces who sought stifle him? Obama for the win!
• You no doubt heard reports yesterday that new Obama White House staffers were upset to find themselves expected to communicate via smoke signals and semaphore. That's bunk, says former Bush Administration officials...
• Some are grumbling that the 72-hour-old WhiteHouse.gov is a huge disappointment...
• And more.

Video war continues between Obama and McCain, McCain is using Wikipedia, David All is impressed with McCain's online ads, Jame Hamsher has a new PAC to boast about, #dontgo campaign gets a little more support,

New vs. Traditional media is apples and oranges, Cybersecurity advice for the next President, DNC responds to "Democrats Praising McCain" ad, McCain offers prizes to spammers and realizes his recent YouTube dominance, and the #dontgo Twitter debate continues...

New vs. Traditional media is apples and oranges, Cybersecurity advice for the next President, DNC responds to "Democrats Praising McCain" ad, McCain offers prizes to spammers and realizes his recent YouTube dominance, and the #dontgo Twitter debate continues...

Citizen-journalists chosen by Decision '08, contest for "Why are you a Democrat/Republican," what do pollworkers of the 21st Century look like?, fears of security threats at the Democratic National Convention, Twitter scandal erupts over fake "speakerpelosi" account, and coded messages directed at Evangelicals in John McCain's "The One" ad.

John McCain finally turns to his Senate record defend against attacks on his tech cred; we consider whether MoveOn is a movement or a marketing machine; the newest stars of YouTube seem to be the guys and gals (well, guys, at least) running the presidential campaigns behind the scenes; and an overflowing bucket of other stuff.

I just finished spending the last two days at the Personal Democracy Forum's annual conference in New York, "Rebooting the System." In addition to learning from technocrats and politicos buzzing with great ideas and insights, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel entitled, "Mastering the World of Online Video." It featured three YouTube greats - Robert Greenwald of bravenewfilms, Josh Marshall of TPMtv, and Matthew Sheffield of NewsBusted. Each had some great thoughts to relay on how to succeed in the world of online video.

Barack Obama announces his decision to opt out of public financing in a video sent straight to supporters; McCain launches his first Facebook app: a video tour through the "Straight Talk Express" bus; a new Google maps gallery mashes up political data and geography; Capitol Words offers a daily extraction of Congress's most popular word; and more.