Did anyone use MySpace's MyDebates page, the "official online companion to the Presidential Debates"? Alas, not too many. And it looks like only four questions of the millions submitted online were asked by Tom Brokaw, the event's moderator. That, plus the pre-agreed rules that prevented the studio audience from asking follow-up questions or even showing emotion, made the "townhall" style presidential debate more like a wax museum animatronic replica of a townhall. What a shame.

Not sure how this is going to play out but the video micro blogging site Seesmic just announced a partnership with the Washington Post's and Chris Cillizza''s "The Fix."

Mike Huckabee's email to his list today called Franklin Raines the "Chief Economic Advisor" to Barack Obama. This is clearly false, and he should know better.

Tom Browkaw, moderator of tonight's "townhall" presidential debate is reportedly sifting through six million questions that poured in online. Yeah, um, let's hope Brokaw has a posse of twelve thousand interns, because there's no way he's getting through those alone; Campaign videos like the McCain team's "Celeb" ad may air as paid TV spots only a few times and in a handful of markets, but they can still be seen by millions -- both as earned media when news shows rerun them and on YouTube. That's powerful bang for only a few bucks; Now that the powers-that-be in the House of Representatives have revised internal web rules to free congresspeoples to start Twittering, the Sunlight Foundation has whipped up a Capitol Tweet widget. Embed away!; and quite a bit more. Promise.

Are we going down the tubes, or can we use the tubes to save us from ourselves? When I'm not distracted by the latest news, that's what I'm trying to think about these days. Here are some unfinished thoughts on the topic...

By Nancy Scola and Allison Fine

We know. It sounds ridiculous at first. But it might not be as crazy as you think. For far too long, the job of election protection has fallen largely to lawyers schooled in election law. But there's an opportunity before us right now and through Election Day for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of citizens to identify and rectify voting problems in real time. Enter Twitter.

Can a loosely-organized Facebook group best the biggest name progressive blogs when it comes to fundraising? That's the question that longtime online organizer Jon Pincus is asking; Ever since Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate, we're heard a lot about the role that the Catholic vote will play in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan. But when it comes to who Catholics might cast a ballot for, Church officials and advocates aren't letting the campaigns dictate to them -- or be the only ones using social media to persuade voters; The Obama campaign has kept its powder dry on the so-called Keating Five scandal -- until now; and a good deal more.

One of the more fascinating aspects of the presidential campaign has been the proliferation of email smears against Barack Obama, and his campaign's efforts to fight back. Back in July, such an email dropped into my inbox, which claimed to be a reprint of a New York Times column by Maureen Dowd. A complete fabrication quickly debunked, the column claimed that contributions to the Obama campaign originated illegally from the Middle East and China. Now comes news that the RNC will file a complaint against the Obama campaign for the possibility of accepting illegal foreign donations.

Last April we told you about an effort by an independent filmmaker that aimed to organize Obama supporters to donate $1 million to the candidate in under 1 minute. (They ended up raising a respectable $245,000 in a couple minutes.)

Now the same effort is back with a new face. "An Obama Minute" aims to raise $1 million on Monday between 12:00 and 12:01 in the afternoon, helped along by an interactive billboard in Times Square (and accompanying widget).

This is an absolute first and frankly it's f---ing brilliant. The California Democratic Party has a giant electronic billboard up somewhere near a Los Angeles-area rally that Republican VP candidate is doing today that is displaying live text-message questions people are sending in. On top of that, the whole thing is streaming live back onto the web using UStream.tv. Check it out: