An in-depth look at the online warfare preceding the Ames Straw Poll tomorrow, including the return of mini-Mitt, the ultimate test for Ron Paul's online movement, and digital dirty tricks. Plus, an exclusive look at Barack Obama's new interactive video banner ads, and Fred Thompson courts the "safe online transactions" vote.

Tommy Thompson jumped into the race yesterday with a big bag of hope and a poorly conceived website. The short version of this review is this: "If Rudy's site, and Tancredo's site spent a wild drunk night together, Tommy's page would be the illegitimate offspring."

I feel like kind of like Oliver Twist. I keep getting gruel, but still go back looking for more. Since there isn't a lot I can say positively about Thompson's site, I'll take a brief look at the site, and offer a few thoughts on how he, and others, should rethink their online campaign.

The Web on the Candidates 
The key to the 2008 presidential race won't the be candidates' stands on issues like Iraq, global warming, or the economy.  Instead, suggests Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle, it's all about the brand.  "The hope is that 'Hillary' conjures up 'experienced leader,' 'Obama' translates into 'fresh outsider' and 'Rudy' means 'America's mayor,'" she writes.  Adds Richard Levick, president of Levick Strategic Communications, "If anyone had any doubt about how we choose the most important political office in the U.S. ... we do it by the brand rather than the ideas.  We choose them as we do diapers or cornflakes ... we buy things emotionally.''  Referring to the "Vote Different" 1984 ad, Levick said, "This ad wasn't done by the (Sen. Barack) Obama camp, but it did exactly what they wanted to do.  Position (Clinton) as the IBM to their Apple. She's old Washington, he's the fresh face."  Peter Leyden of the New Politics Institute has a slightly different take:  "What we're going through right now is a phase shift in politics -- which is going from a top- down, centralized, hierarchical world to a much more democratized, bottom-up, participatory form, and that transition is extremely difficult for the current players in politics."

On the day of Obama's "community kickoff" event this weekend, in which supporters met at house parties around the country, other supporters preferred to meet virtually at Obama's unofficial HQ in Second Life.  I was there and witnessed a Obama-like avatar standing on a stage above the supporters.  He was silent as the supporters milled about, talking about politics and their support for Obama.  Supporters were asked to donate money directly through Obama's own web site, so there wasn't an immediate way to track any fundraising successes or failures. 

The Web on the Candidates

The Editors Weblog reports that The New York Times and the New York Sun are both developing dedicated web sites to cover the 2008 election. "The migration of politics and political journalism to the web isn't quite new, but it sure is moving fast. We're moving too," NYT executive editor Bill Keller says.

Valleywag took a tour through John Edwards' unofficial space in Second Life and wound up asking, "where are all the people, anyway?" Well, there two people there, and the writer was able to hop on to a helicopter and hover next them, prompting one person to say, "Dude, there's a helicopter behind you."