The Web on the Candidates

• When MySpace originally announced its plans to hold a “MySpace primary” on January 1st and 2nd — ahead of the presidential primaries — observers (us included) speculated that it could be a groundbreaking event. Now that it’s here, the MySpace Primary looks like nothing more than a game and a traffic-ploy. Introduced with a humorous video starring comedian Ed Helms and the kid who played McLovin in Superbad, the primary is just another internet poll. You can vote multiple times, so no one will take this so-called ‘primary’ seriously. Oh well.

• Intrepid videoblogger James Kotecki is in Iowa to cover the caucuses, and he noticed a curious thing: almost all of the supporters rallying outside the Ron Paul headquarters are men. He asked the sole woman in attendance says she doesn’t know why Paul supporters are all men, and then James ends with the sound of all the college boys shouting Ron Paul, Ron Paul, as if they’re at a frat. No wonder the women are put off. (P.S. The video doesn’t always play for me).

• The Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas has discovered a bumper crop of bloggers in Iowa writing from all ends of the spectrum. The growth of political blogging in Iowa coincides with increasing access to public wifi, making it clearer than ever that coffee shops are truly the engines of the blogosphere.

• A pro-Mike Huckabee 501(c)(4) group called Trust Huckabee (with the url www.cannottrustromney.com) has a video ad attacking Mitt Romney hard for his policy switches over the last decade. Soren Dayton takes a look at the ad and site, which are produced by the group Common Sense Issues. He can’t tell how big the ad buy is, but he does think that “at this point, Mike Huckabee is more likely to lose votes to someone else than to Romney.” Does this qualify as a Swift Boat?

• Beliefnet’s God-o-Meter provides some of the clearest — and most fun — analysis of the religiosity of the 2008 candidates. Placing the Democrats and Republicans on a spectrum ranging from Secularist to Theocrat, some of the results are surprising. The Godliest Republican is, predictably, Mike Huckabee, followed by Mitt Romney. For the Dems, however, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson are holiest. Mike Gravel and Fred Thompson are the most secular Democrat and Republicans, and they’re both at the bottom of the polls… a connection?

The Candidates on the Web

• Video jabs have reached new heights in the runup to tomorrow’s Iowa caucuses. John McCain released a harsh web ad attacking Mitt Romney about his lack of foreign policy experience (hint: if you want to scare people, show lots of images of explosions, guns, and injured people, and use the audio of foreign-sounding sirens). Romney fought back with a web video claiming that he’s a “full-spectrum conservative.” We’re not sure at who these web-only ads are aimed, but it seems clear that the web is where the candidates put their hottest stuff and hope they get to have it both ways — they can reach influentials and the press, but without spending big bucks or offending low-attention voters.

• The Politico’s Jonathan Martin has a good story about the strange saga of Mike Huckabee’s pulled attack ad. Just before his campaign was set to launch an attack campaign against Mitt Romney, Huckabee had a pang of conscience (it always gets in the way!) and decided to pull the TV as and other related materials, which according to Martin cost the campaign about $150,000. Meanwhile, Huckabee held a press conference in which he showed the video to journalists, only to say that it wasn’t going public. We haven’t been able to find the pulled video yet, but will update as soon as we do.

In Case You Missed It…

Micah Sifry finds an analysis showing that buyers of political books on Amazon are clearly divided between people who favor liberal titles vs people who favor conservative titles, with little cross-buying occurring. But a new study of consumer behavior suggests that so-called “influentials” may not matter as much as everyone thinks, and the malleability and gullibility of voters who are easily influenced by others is the more important factor.

Michael Whitney reports that Barack Obama’s campaign put its Facebook page to a new use just days before the Iowa caucuses. Fans, or supporters, of Barack Obama received a message asking to remind their friends in Iowa to caucus.

As we approach the Iowa caucuses, online activity should be reaching a crescendo, writes Patrick Ruffini. Instead, it seems like the most of what’s clogging our inboxes are 2004-style fundraising appeals. Welcome to 2008, same as 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004?

Barack Obama | Bill Richardson | Fred Thompson | James Kotecki | John McCain | Mike Gravel | Mike Huckabee | Mitt Romney | MySpace
Joshua Levy's blog | email this page | delicious | digg | technorati