The Web on the Candidates

• Is Al Gore running? Leonardo DiCaprio couldn't get it out of it him, but after he won an Oscar for best documentary last night people are talking. Patrick Ruffini noticed that Gore's web site has a new splash page asking visitors to send their names and email addresses to Congress; Ruffini wonders if it's a sign of bigger ambitions. "A good e-mail list is something any candidate needs to hit the ground running. And if you’re smart, you capitalize on high-impact events like the Oscar win to collect e-mail addresses."
• In a profile of Students for Barack Obama leaders, the Merced Sun-Star looks for ways that campaigns can use social networking sites like Facebook to get people elected. Meredith Segal, executive director of the group, knows it's about more than online organizing. "We recognize that we have tens of thousands of members online. But unless we get those people out knocking on doors, participating in phone banks, registering voters and obviously ultimately voting, (our) online organizing will be little more than a powerful way to demonstrate support for (Obama)."
• Kristin Jensen of Bloomberg.com takes a look at Barack Obama's netroots funding strategy. According to the article, the major party candidates are expected to spend as much as $500 million for the 2008 election, and Obama is looking to the Internet for small donations of $5, $10, or $100 to help reach that number. One way to do this is to give supporters a stake in the campaign. "The best way to sustain momentum is to ensure that it's not just about you and that there are a lot of people who are invested and feel ownership,' Obama says.
• A recent Performics survey finds that 42% of Americans will use the Internet to help them decide who to vote for in the 2008 presidential election.

The Candidates on the Web

• Tom Vilsack posted a thank-you video on Friday thanking his supporters and the video blogging community for their support. It's somewhat ironic that he made good use of online video to end his campaign, rather than continue it.
• Something's broken: as of 10am this morning no images were showing up on Sam Brownback's site, and the main headline reads, "Headerpane2." Is this a new campaign strategy?
• Todd Zeigler follows up with the McCain campaign to see if, as they promised, they are listening to bloggers. Unfortunately, they aren't. Mike Turk signed up for McCainSpace, McCain's social networking tool, over two weeks ago and still hasn't been approved by the site's administrators. Neither has William Beutler.
• After five days, Hillary Clinton's "One Week One Million" fundraising campaign has raised almost $620,000. Two days, $380,000?