The Web on the Candidates

• Finding a Voice, Using It: Now's a good time to ask, what the heck happened with the defeat of the bailout bill on Capitol Hill on Monday? Our own Micah Sifry has an intriguing look at whether we've witnessed Washington shaking loose a bit from the grasp of Wall Street and the power of big-money donors being balanced by an re-empowered electorate. "Ordinary people," writes Micah "want more of a say in the process, so they're starting to pool their money and their voices, and they've learned--thanks to the Internet--that they can have an impact." Zephyr Teachout suggests that modern decentralized campaigns a la Ron Paul and Howard Dean have created "cultures...strongly opposed to the shift to massive executive power over the purse as imagined by the bailout proposal." To appropriate a concept from the Berkman Center's Ethan Zuckerman, maybe all these years we've spent posting cute cat pictures on the Internet have developed muscles now being flexed to put pressure on Washington. #

• The View from the West Coast: That said, a FriendFeed debate captured by Valley Wag shows some prominent Californians wrestling with the question of whether all that cat-picture posting is somehow trivial. FastCompany TV's Robert Scoble is fed up with empowering amateurs: "I find I'm looking to experts and elites more and more, because the crap I'm seeing out of all of our mouths is just so, um, wrong." Robert took a swipe at Anthony Citrano, perhaps best known as the co-founder of the Pop!Tech conference, who responded with his own view of what a wired citizenry should do in our uncertain economic times. "I'm not asking you to give up your gadgets nor to stop blogging about blogging," writes Anthony, "but... I suggest a little less time navel-gazing and a little more time using your voices, tools and networks to catalyze broad, deep, honest conversations about public policy." Interesting debate. #

• Googlifying the Election Process: Ooor, use those techie chops for good! Google has jumped into the electoral mix a new Google Maps-powered voter registration interface. So much of what ails elections in the U.S. can be traced to information deficit. Google knows how to handle information. You, as they say, do the math. The League of Women Voters is populating the effort with data, but the execution is pure Google. I sloppily put in just my street address -- no city or state -- and Google quickly flung back details on how long I have left to register to vote. Google's also behind the Voter Information Project, an admirable effort to standardize hodgepodge of state voter materials. #

• Playing the Debate Game: Debate? What debate? Oh, there's a debate tonight. The Internet has bubbled up some ways to play along with Palin vs. Biden. There's the #bidenshot hashtag on Twitter, an organic and evolving game that lifts a jigger every time, as Dave Winer explains, the Democratic VP nominee "says 'Ladies & Gentleman' or calls McCain 'John.'" With Palin Bingo, mark a square every time the GOP VP candidate utters the words "pit bull," "maverick" or "gotcha journalism." PalinBingo.com also supplies handy blank cards, so you can craft your own game. #

The Candidates on the Web

• Obama in Your Pocket: Wow. The Obama campaign has released a gorgeous new iPhone app. Its coolness: 1) it organizes your contacts according to swing state and keeps track of who you've called to stump for Obama; 2) a "get involved" feature uses the iPhone's built-in GPS to direct you to the nearest Obama campaign headquarters and local campaign events; and 3) it comes loaded with a pocket policy guide that gives one-touch access to the Obama plan on everything from civil rights to women's issues. #

TechCongress and Beyond

• Pulling Back the Curtain on Broadband: Congress has okayed a bill that requires the government to regularly and accurately assess who in the U.S. has broadband access and who doesn't. If we may humbly advance an opinion: excellent! Bad or non-existent broadband data has been an anchor pulling down the roll out of high-speed Internet access in the United States, but details on who's wired, where, when, and why is information that the telecom and cable companies are loath to part with. #

In Case You Missed It...

David All reports that John McCain has joined Twitter, "but not really." David has suggestions for how McCain can catch up to Barack Obama on the Twitter front.

Nancy Scola details how proponents and opponents of California's Proposition 8 on same-sex marriage are waging the battle online.