The Web on the Candidates

• That's a Third of a Day!: Poynter's Al Thompkins asks the WashingtonPost.com's Jim Brady and Chet Rhodes who they're aiming to attract with their seven hours of live video coverage of this week's Democratic National Convention in Denver -- especially at a time when the conventional wisdom is that political conventions are outdated, outmoded, and irrelevant. The WashingtonPost.com's experiment involves the contributions of bloggers including BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis and and Crooks and Liars John Amato. The Posties report that cheaper and more mobile tech tools (not to mention the willingness of bloggers to work for free) lower the need to justify such extensive coverage. #

• Follow the Bloggers: Some 125 bloggers where credentialed by the Democratic National Committee to serve as press during the convo, and the web development firm EchoDitto has helpfully packaged an OPML file containing the feeds from each of their blogs. Pop that file into a feed reader like Google Reader or NewsGator and you'll have instant access to all that great DNC coverage. #

• Post Cam Captures Protests: The Denver Post is operating a live web down at Civic Center, where protestors are gathering around this week's convention, and last night PdF's Micah Sifry wondered whether there were more people watching the protests online (some 1,400 viewers, in his estimation) than were gathered on-the-ground. Public Enemy is scheduled to perform today, so their appearance might attract a few more protestors and online eyeballs. #

The Candidates on the Web

• Behind the Scenes with Mrs. Obama: After Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention last night, the Obama campaign quickly posted a video showing the wife of the Democratic candidate as she prepped for her big moment. As with her prime time speech, the aim of the video was to show Michelle as approachable and relatable. It might be working: the 1:35 video been viewed nearly 50,000 times as of this afternoon. #
  

• The Text Heard 'Round the World: GigaOm, the San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR all have a go at the meaning and message of the SMS sent out by the Obama campaign last week announcing his choice of running mate. Related: BusinessWeek's Auren Hoffman has a look at how Obama plans to use social tools to actually put a "W" in the Democrats' column come November. #

• It's Been XX Days Since Our Last Freudian Slip: In non-DNC news -- we might have Chris Dodd's web team to thank for this. The Connecticut senator's online shop pioneered the use of the Debate Clock back in the Democratic primaries to mark how much air time their candidate received. And now the Republican National Committee has launched the Biden Gaffe Clock to chart supposed slips by Barack Obama's new running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden. The first "gaffe" marked on the clock: Biden's calling the Democratic candidate "Barack America" during his campaign kickoff speech. #

TechCongress and Beyond

• Ask the Leggislator: While in Denver for the DNC, Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be taking part in a Digg Dialogg. How does it work? Simple! Anyone can submit a question, and the top rated ones will be asked of Pelosi by Digg CEO Jay Adelson at the DNC tomorrow in a recorded session. The top question right now? With 828 diggs, it's one asking Pelosi to go on record on net neutrality. #

In Case You Missed It...

Steve Garfield tracks the online video of Michelle Obama's speech in Denver last night. And Kate Kaye asks if it's really wise for radio ads paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign to show up alongside some questionable content.