Special Announcement: PdF 2008 is Coming!

Mark your calendar: We are proud to announce that this year’s Personal Democracy Forum — our annual conference that has become the seminal gathering place for the growing community of people who understand how technology affects politics, and are looking for what’s coming next — will be held on June 23rd and 24th at the spectacular Rose Hall, the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

We’re offering our readers an extra-special early-bird rate of $395 for both days; that’s $300 off the final price. Go here to learn more and to register (special early-bird pricing ends next Tuesday, February 5th).

The Web on the Candidates

• As the Democratic and Republican nomination battles coalesce around four candidates for the nomination — witness the flurry of endorsements, Kennedy and otherwise, of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain this week, while John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani leave the race — so too are online supporters pulling together bits from around the web. One example is YouBama, a site that pulls together pro-Obama voter-generated videos and lets users vote them up and down, Digg-style. At the moment the top video is of George Clooney telling Charlie Rose that Obama is “the best candidate I have ever seen.” It’s a pretty cool site, and it must be easy enough to set similar sites up for the other candidates. Calling TechRepublican… (via TechCrunch)

• Geek comic hero xkcd doesn’t stray into politics much — he (or she) is better known for stick-figure romances and geeky ponderings — but the drama of the moment compelled the artist to proclaim his support for Barack Obama, citing his policies on open government and the support of idols like Lawrence Lessig. Will other geeks follow suit (Dave Winer has) or are they still entranced by Ron Paul?

• Tomorrow marks the end of the National Journal’s Beltway Blogroll and Technology Daily, both helmed by Danny Glover. Beltway Blogroll was an especially helpful guide to the Washington tech world for those of us who exist beyond the beltway. Glover hasn’t revealed the reasons behind the shuttering of the two pubs, but he’ll be continuing on with AirCongress. Good luck Danny!

• Some of us from techPresident have been guests on New York talk-show host Brian Lehrer’s TV show for the past couple of weeks. First Micah Sifry chatted with Lehrer about our favorite online political videos and stats, and last week Andrew Rasiej pulled back to talk about the role of video and the web in the election. Tonight yours truly will be on; if you live in New York City check it out on channel 75 at 7:30pm.

The Candidates on the Web

• What a difference a day can make. John McCain beat Mitt Romney to win the Florida primary, and due to his disappointing third-place finish, Rudy Giuliani will be dropping out later today. Word on the street is that he’ll be endorsing McCain.

• John Edwards has declared that he, too, is dropping out of the race. He’d consistently come in third in the early states, behind Obama and Clinton, and could never compete for the same kind of media attention. But he consistently used the web to good effect, aided by Howard Dean guru Joe Trippi, his wife’s blog-savviness, and a whole slew of younger tech-savvy staffers like Tracy Russo, his chief blogger. He generated a fair amount of support from online activists, and for many was the only true progressive who had a shot of winning.

• This winnowing is inevitable, but for us at techPresident, who began tracking the contest about a year ago by charting the online presences of 18 candidates, it’s a bit sad to see the parties cut down to a total of seven candidates (yes, Mike Gravel is still “running” -- check out this new video). As they sail into a sunset that may or may not feature the silhouette of a cabinet position, let’s wish these two candidates well.

• Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain are surging in blog mentions, with Clinton capturing almost as much attention as Obama in the blogosphere; Obama's YouTube numbers are so high they look like a hockey stick and his Facebook friends have doubled since Iowa; and both Romney and McCain are taking off online according to Hitwise.

In Case You Missed It…

David All announces that UStream.tv has partnered with the Republican National Convention to serve as its “Official Live Video Streaming Provider.”

Over the last week or two, Patrick Ruffini has been noodling on the idea that 2008 could be the year of Twitter in the way that 2007 was the Year of Facebook and 2006 was the Year of YouTube. After Twitter crashed on the night of the State of the Union, it looks like this may not be so farfetched.