The Web on the Candidates

• BusinessWeek rounds up the candidates' stands on tech issues. Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama have "outlined ambitious tech agendas," while Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani haven't staked out discernable positions. A quick, narcissistic note: the headline reads, "Seeking a Tech President" but our site isn't mentioned anywhere in the piece...
• Bruce Reed, writing in Slate, looks at the results of Mitt Romney's create-your-own-ad. As Reed sees it, Romney is interested in created a new league of media consultants. "Give Romney credit for letting go—as a self-described control freak, he's the last guy you'd expect to experiment with growing his own [Bob] Shrums." Reed produced his own video for Romney, though it wasn't actually in support of the candidate. It's actually pretty funny, but it didn't make the cut, proving that the campaign didn't approve every entry.
• The National Journal's Danny Glover is nervous that the Huffington Post/NewAssignment.net project Off the Bus is "going off track politically." With the hire of journalist Marc Cooper, who's a contributing editor for the Nation, the site is now published by two liberals and run by three liberals, two of which, techPresident contributor Zack Exley and Amanda Michel, worked together on the Howard Dean and John Kerry campaigns. Glover, who's an advisor for the Heritage Foundation, is attracted to the idea of citizens covering the campaign, but sees the necessity of keeping things non- or bi-partisan. "OffTheBus risks sending a confusing message to both its readers and potential contributors when all of the people at the top of the organization skew one direction politically," he writes.
• Google has produced an impressive site that serves as a hub for the upcoming Australian national election. They apply their gMuscle to all kinds of data surrounding the election, from using Google Maps to find your electorate or explore marginal seats, to watching election videos on YouTube, to tracking RSS feeds of election news, all available on the same page. It's using pre-existing Google features like it's customizable homepage and widgets, so it can't be hard to apply to the U.S. election. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

The Candidates on the Web

• Ron Paul has updated his website a bit, and it's the cleanest design yet. Three tabs to the left of the front page link to a sections on Constitution Week, "Who is Ron Paul?," and a featured YouTube video. Highlights from his blog are featured at the bottom of the page, and, of course, links to all of the social networking site on which he is king are at the bottom. One funny quirk: at the very top of the page are the words, "Campaign for President of the United States." Thanks for that reminder.

In Case You Missed It...

It’s Friday, so we’ve rounded up our favorite political videos of the week. Check out our take on the socio-political video zetigeist (say that five times fast!)

David All writes that it’s easy to become a “preditor” — a producer/editor. All you need is relatively inexpensive equipment a political will, and you’re on your way.

Both Rudy Giuliani and Barack Obama are communicating with their supporters’ house parties via webcast, writes Colin Delany.

It’s OneWebDay on Saturday, and Micah Sifry wants to know how, and if, the web advisors for the campaigns will mark the event.

Cell phone service is coming to the New York subways, and how did the New York Daily News announce the news? With a photo of techPresident’s Andrew Rasiej, of course.

Barack Obama | Google | Hillary Clinton | Mitt Romney | Off the Bus | Ron Paul | Rudy Giuliani
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