The Web on the Candidates

• A Rightwingnews.com poll suggests that Duncan Hunter has gained significant new support among the conservative netroots. Newt Gingrich was the most popular potential candidate, followed by Hunter and Mitt Romney. Chuck Hagel, George Pataki, and John McCain were very unpopular among the 230 participants in the poll.
• The Politico and MSNBC are sponsoring the first GOP debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA on May 3. It will be broadcast online on the Politico's web site, where viewers can submit questions to the candidates.
• Republican strategist and Giuliani campaigner Patrick Ruffini writes that the "Democratic nomination fight will eat up two thirds or more of the media’s 2008 coverage over the next year," which is a "way for the media to show its bias without being ideological." They will focus on the fight among Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards and pay less attention to the GOP battle for the nomination. Eyeon08 compares media numbers for Mitt Romney and Barack Obama and finds that Obama is getting a lot more attention.

The Candidates on the Web

• Ron Paul gets dugg. The Congressman's speech before the House warning against war with Iran was posted on LewRockwell.com, which advertises itself as "anti-state, anti-war, pro-market." Meanwhile, Paul's exploratory web site is still completely dormant. Why isn't he posting these things there?
• Rudy Giuliani is wooing Silicon Valley. This week he spoke to a crowd of techies and venture capitalists at the Churchill Club and met with VC's Tim Draper and Floyd Kvamme. This increased attention comes, in part, from news that the California legislature is considering moving its primary to February, increasing its role in the choosing of the nominees. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, and Tom Vilsack will all stop by over the next week.
• Joe Biden blogger Erin Medlicott explain the need for cash in her "'Welcome to the Blog' - Week Three" post: "Each of us has received e-mail and snail mail solicitations, especially prior to last November’s midterm elections. You know the ones…signed by Howard Dean and Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson and Al Gore. They mentioned how crucial it was to get your donation in, and how important you would be to the Democratic Congressional win." Oddly, the post reads little like a blog post and a lot like... those e-mail soliciations.
• Biden continues to dominate his home page with giant faces; it now features four images of Biden and one large image of his wife, Jill, that belongs to her video message about education. The only (indirect) reference to voters continues to be the red "contribute" button in the top right corner.
• Jon Jones, Barack Obama's head blogger, reports some impressive numbers: over the last three days 40,000 people came out to see Obama in Iowa and New Hampshire; 14.2 million people tuned into the 60 Minutes special on Obama this past Sunday night; and 70,000 people have joined the online community at on Obama's site.

Hillary's blog countdown

• Twenty-three days without a blog from Chappaqua.