The Web on the Candidates

• More evidence that Facebook is biased? HuffPo blogger Will Bower, in a post titled “Glitch-Plagued Clinton Facebook Group Cries Foul; Obama Page Glitch Free” (that title is so funky, I had to post it), quotes a letter from the administrator of the Facebook group Hillary Clinton for President - One Million Strong to a Facebook administrator. Apparently a “glitch” has left the group “unable to add moderators, to ban members, or remove bans on members.” Does the fact that Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes works on Barack Obama’s web team have anything to do with this? We're sure it has nothing to do with anything...

• FDR 2.0? In a long and thoughtful post at Afro-Netizen, Helene De Michiel, national co-director of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC), writes that “Our next president can help reconstruct America’s fragmented and relatively weak public communications infrastructure by using the most effective tool our youth wield - the power and depth of their digital fluency,” so she calls for a Digital New Deal. De Michiel details a “large-scale public sector agenda” that, she argues, will reinvigorate the economy, provide jobs, and stoke civic activism. The public sector aspect is sure to make conservatives squirm, but all online activists will find something to like in her techno-positivism.

• Another fantastic site from the Sunlight Foundation is letting the light in on the personal worth of elected representatives. Fortune 535 lets people see what Members of Congress are actually worth and how much they’ve gained since they came to Congress. Even more fun are the graphs showing the average net worth of a lawmaker versus the average American family. Hint: it isn’t even close. (techPres’ Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej are advisers to the Sunlight Foundation).

• We still haven’t forgiven humor site 23/6 for fooling us with that whole McCain Girls fiasco, but they are producing a pretty funny series of Schoolhouse Rocks cartoons called “White House Rocks.” The first features a new group of superheroes called in to save the electoral day… funny. But we’re still suspicious, 23/6.

• Next week Mediabistro, the media-focused jobs and community site, is holding a two-day summit called the Mediabistro Circus that will discuss “the digital platforms and trends that are changing media.” The carnival will include a talk by New York Times digital news editor Jim Roberts about how digital media has changed coverage of the presidential campaigns. Other speakers include Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson, writer Steven Johnson, Robert Scoble, Six Apart’s Anil Dash, and Blip.tv co-founder Dina Kaplan. Not to be missed.

• Personal Democracy Forum 2008 is only six weeks away! Stay tuned for a big announcement, and be sure to register.

The Candidates on the Web

• The RNC and John McCain have launched two websites focused on (gasp!) global warming and the environment. The RNC’s site, Environmental Pledge, is a simple form asking people to make pledges — start a carpool, use mass transit, keep your car tuned up, use a compact fluorescent bulb — to help the environment (there’s no mention of “climate change” or “global warming” anywhere, just the liberal use of the color green) with John McCain’s heading looming from above. The second site, which features a McCain URL, is much more involved, and establishes McCain’s market-based cap-and-trade “Plan on Global Climate Change” with a nifty Flash presentation, details about McCain’s plan, and a link to that GOP pledge. The site is one of the first GOP sites to heavily emphasize protecting the environment and to use phrases like “global climate change.” It will interesting to gauge the bases’ response.

• He’s just like us; he posts on craigslist! According to an ad in Chicago craigslist, the Obama campaign is “looking for internet experts who strongly support Barack Obama for President.” It looks like the campaign is planning on handling web advertising in-house, a rare move that, according to one online advertising exec, “is curious and contradicts the norm in political campaigning.” The reasoning behind the move? “It’s possible that Obama’s current agency simply doesn’t have enough online advertising resources — or that the campaign is trying to save money by bringing everything under one roof,” says our source.

• Gov Gab, the government site that bills itself as “Your U.S. Government Blog,” is taking a cue from the TSA blog and opening up for reader input. “Give us your ideas of how you’d like us to use this blog to provide you with information, services or a place to express your opinions,” writes Joanne (no last name given). “We’re ready to experiment.” Cool! If you get a chance, go ahead and leave a comment.

• He really is a rock star candidate. Barack Obama’s campaign is starting to put Barack’s “greatest hits” up as subscribable podcasts on iTunes. What next, a duet between Barack and Bono?

In Case You Missed It…

To get a better sense of what tools political professionals are using, both for advocacy and to help elect candidates, Colin Delany implores us to take the 2008 E-Voter Institute Survey of Political and Advocacy Communications Leaders today.

Barack Obama | Gov Gab | John McCain | Mediabistro | RNC
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