The Web on the Candidates

• The big news this morning is that top Republicans are considering sitting out September's CNN/YouTube Republican debate in Florida. At the Washington Post, Jose Antonio Vargas writes that to date, only John McCain and Ron Paul have signed up for the debate. Sort-of kind-of frontrunner Mitt Romney isn't saying what he'll do, but quipped, "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman" (is it more or less presidential than equating Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton with Osama Bin Laden?). And on this site, David All and Patrick Ruffini have expressed disappointment that Rudy Giuliani has indicated he won't attend. If he goes, so will all of the frontrunners, says Ruffini. "It's stuff like this that will set the GOP back an election cycle or more on the Internet... Having spent the better part of a decade working at the intersection of politics and the Web, I can't help but feel of a deep, deep sense of dismay that we're missing something so basic," says Ruffini. Meanwhile, perhaps to drive the point home, David All posted a video response on YouTube. Wearing the look of a guy who was suddenly dumped by his girlfriend, he says "this is your opportunity to show the American people that you're willing to connect, that you really do care about the community..."
• Meanwhile, Mark Silva at the Chicago Tribune picks up on the unfortunate fact that Romney apparently doesn't know his YouTube from his Facebook. "YouTube is a website that allows kids to network with one another and make friends and contact each other," Romney said. God forbid his YouTubes get clogged with too many friends, which would inevitably grind the whole Facebook to a halt!
• A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project offers some surprising stats about Americans' use of online video. According to the study, "fifty-seven percent of online adults have used the internet to watch or download video, and 19% do so on a typical day." More exciting for us propagandists of the read/write web is the revelation that "more than half of online video viewers (57%) share links to the video they find with others, and three in four (75%) say they receive links to watch video that others have sent to them." (Thanks, David.)
• Jeff Jarvis writes that, according to his conversations with producers there, ABC News will be including voter videos in their upcoming debates (the debate won't be devoted to video). The cool thing is that the public will be able to rate and comment on most of the videos submitted to ABC. "Ratings won’t be the sole determinant of what is used, but it will influence ABC News," a departure from the CNN model we saw this week. It's a minor, but significant, change, and Jarvis says "That’s all I’ve been wanting."

The Candidates on the Web

• Barack Obama's team has just released a ton of downloadable and embeddable badges and widgets. The badges are like bumper stickers for your blog, featuring images of the Illinois Senator, his vaguely-African-rising-sun-over-the-flaglike-cornfield logo, and phrases like "I'm Voting for Barack Obama" and "I Support Barack Obama," or simply variations on the "Obama '08" theme. The widgets were created using Google Gadgets, and, similar to the Obama Facebook application, they make it easy to embed the latest news and video from the Obama campaign on your Google page or home page. The technology isn't revolutionary, but the badges and widgets are attractive and easy to use. The coolest new piece of e-bumperstickery, however, is an embeddable Flash-animated timeline that scrolls through the years of Obama's life, ticking off milestones like his high school graduation, his years as a community organizer, Harvard Law School, etc. Again, while it's nothing revolutionary, it's easy to add it to your site, and is an attractive way to show off your support.

In Case You Missed It...

Given the attention paid to Obama Girl this cycle, Morra Arrons is worried that politics is just coming down to how good women look in bikinis. "If I have to watch another slutty YouTube political video, I'm going to be sick," she says.

Two days ago Howard Dean befriended Micah Sifry on Facebook. Yesterday, Micah received a message "from" Dean. Actually, it was from Stephanie Taylor, a Dean staffer.

ABC | Barack Obama | CNN | debates | Facebook | Mitt Romney | YouTube
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