The Web on the Candidates

• There are 10 months until the first primaries, so you wouldn't think there'd be enough material for best-of political video lists... yet there already is. Todd Zeigler at the Bivings Report pulled together the "Top Political YouTube Videos so far [this] Cycle," and even if you're familiar with most of videos it's fun a jog down short-term memory lane. Zeigler includes favorite hits (and cringe-worthy moments) like John McCain's, "bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran," Hillary Clinton's use of a Southern acccent, Karl Rove rapping, John Edwards getting his hair done, Congressman Obey arguing with his anti-war constituents and, of course, Phil de Vellis' 1984 "Vote Different" video. The only video that I hadn't seen before was the Obey video, in which a woman whose Iraq vet son can't get proper medical coverage confronts the Congressman about the war supplemental bill and finds him frustrated and combative. It's a long, sad video.
• Jerome Armstrong rounds up the Democratic candidates' outreach efforts toward the netroots, and finds that, surprisingly, "there's nothing happening in the way of outreach to Democratic-leaning blogs on Barack Obama's website that I can see. Nothing." Equally surprising is that Bill Richardson is the only candidate with a blogroll; even John Edwards, who Armstrong says has the most active community of any of the sites, with users regularly reaching out and linking to other blogs, lacks one. I'd like to hear a deeper discussion of why Obama has decided to keep his system so closed; he's raising money and generating community on the site, so he's doing something right. But Armstrong finds "his non-existent online outreach strategy very pre-2003, and you are free to defend it. Just don't mimic the latest about how Obama is the new Reagan, because the latter knew how to work with his base."
• Another month, another straw poll: GOP Straw Polls is polling conservatives about their favorite Republican 2008 hopefuls, and after almost 4000 votes the far-and-away winner is Fred Thompson, who isn't even running (yet). With over 55% of the vote, Thompson is over three times as popular as the next-highest candidate, Rudy Giuliani, who received only 15% of the votes. What does is say about conservatives' choices that they choose a man who isn't even running? If a Democratic poll showed Al Gore in Thompson's position, we'd be talking about a major crisis in the Democratic Party. Another aspect of the poll rates Thompson as the most "acceptable" candidate, with Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani following. George Pataki is the most "unacceptable," closely followed by Jim Gilmore.

The Candidates on the Web

• Gil Kaufman from MTV has written a great profile of two young bloggers working for presidential candidates who are "helping pre-Net candidates keep their online message tight and focused while warding off viral attacks and, hopefully, drafting some new voters along the way." Stephen Smith, Director of online communications for the Romney campaign, and Sam Graham-Felsen, a blogger for the Obama campaign, are both 25, and they are both working on their first campaign. It's a great portrait of two idealist staffers who don't seem infatuated with technology, but are comfortable using the online tools available to them to get the message out, which has become an invaluable political skill.

In Case You Missed It...

Last Friday I wrote about Janet Harris' tag clouds that visually depict the most-often used words from each candidate in last week's Democratic debates, and about Republican Ron Paul's unofficial Second Life build.