The Web on the Candidates

• Super delegates are the hanging chads of 2008: First, Hillary Clinton donors sent a cease-and-desist letter to Nancy Pelosi, asking her to retract comments that Democratic superdelegates should support whichever candidate gets the most pledged delegates. Now MoveOn.org has released a petition of their own in support of Pelosi and criticizing the Clinton donors for “trying to use their high-roller status to strong arm the Democratic leaders.” As MoveOn sees it, “the people, not the superdelegates, should decide the Presidential nomination.” When will it stop? Democratic referee Howard Dean says July 1.

• Think politics is just a game? For Political Machine, it’s exactly that. To be honest, we can’t quite grok how this game works, and the site’s hilariously tautological explanation isn’t much help: “The Political Machine is a strategy game that takes the real world mechanics of political campaigning and uses it to create an award-winning strategy game.”

• Sometimes I just love how the web keeps a conversation going. We already linked to a great post from Ranjit Mathoda on Barack Obama and the coming “digital presidency.” That post is fodder for an ongoing discussion on Slashdot, in which a discussion rages about Rev. Wright, how far to the left and right the candidates are, and the merits of Barack Obama’s techno-awareness.

The Candidates on the Web

• When news hit this week that Mike Gravel had left the Democratic Party, a collective “who?” could be heard across the land. Thankfully, the St. Petersburg Time’s Amy Hollyfield took the time to find out if there really is such a thing as a Gravel candidacy. He isn’t on the ballot in most states, and is touring the Northeast — where most states have had their primaries — soon. But the clearest indication of a failed candidacy? “Apparently I’ve been relegated to a footnote at YouTube,” Gravel complains.

In Case You Missed It…

Alan Rosenblatt looks back at this year’s political videos and considers the rock star status of Hillary, Obama, McCain, and Gravel, linking them to renewed voter energy and changing political landscape. Long live rock!

The race may have winnowed down to three candidates, but the videos keep a-flowin’. In this weeks roundup of our favorite videos, John McCain’s out with a new ad; a Robert Palmer tune gets an update; we meet John Barnes, a candidate who promises to stick to the issues; and those McCain girls continue to entertain.

Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | Mike Gravel | MoveOn
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