The Web on the Candidates

• Barack Obama gave a major speech today on Jeremiah Wright and the role of race in his campaign, addressing an issue that continues to snowball both online and offline. Thanks to a storm of videos and commmentary writes Wired’s Sarah Lai Stirland, “the online propaganda war has already begun.” The vast majority of the top election videos on the essential Viral Video Chart are about Obama, she says, with the top video the Fox footage of Wright’s notorious sermon. We’ll have to wait and see how Obama’s speech will fit into the online cacophony, but it’s safe to say that, at the moment, the web is a fascinating place to watch the country respond to this profound moment in Obama’s campaign.

• MySpace has announced its Impact Awards to honor MySpace members for the “positive impact they’ve had on our culture.” This month’s category is social justice, and our buddies at Why Tuesday? are in the running. So go ahead and vote!

• The West Coast has Silicon Valley, the East Coast has… Silicon Alley. Doesn’t ring a bell? Internet Week New York is set to you remind us that there’s a thriving web industry in city (which includes the folks behind this fair site). The event runs from June 3-10; if you’re in the area be sure to check out events which are still be added. A couple of weeks later, from June 23-24, is own our Personal Democracy Forum conference; June is shaping up to be quite a month in NYC! (via Social Media)

The Candidates on the Web

• Check out the comments below Obama blogger Sam Graham-Felsen’s announcement of Obama’s big speech today. As Obama works through a complicated defense of his relationship to Jeremiah Wright, some of his supporters are also working through a defense of their candidate. It’s an interesting case study in real-time reactions to a major political speech.

• Competitions never fail to drum up interest, whether they’re held at conferences, bingo nights, or presidential campaigns. So John McCain has revived his March Madness brackets, which debuted last year. A fun way to bring sports into politics, right? Not so fast — you’ve gotta give up that email address before you can play. (Hat tip, David All)

In Case You Missed It…

Did you know that one out of ten Members of Congress own stock in JP Morgan? Micah Sifry wondered what the presidential candidates and other politicians were saying about the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented interventions in the financial sector, including yesterday’s provision of $30 billion to guarantee JP Morgan Chase against the risks it will incur as it takes over Bear Stearns for pennies on the dollar (and inherits its subprime portfolio). So, while looking for their public statements from today, he went online to follow the money trail a bit further.