The Web on the Candidates

• We thought we’d been covering the political technology space pretty well over the last year or so, but a new top-secret project somehow alluded us. Convinced that the conservatives’ deficit in online efficacy simply comes from lacking the right tools, The Trustees of the Republican Leadership Trust (yes, that’s the real name) are working on a secret weapon: the Republican All in One™ Political Suite.™ Beware Democrats! Look out progressives! The TRLT is convinced that their new tool will be the “GOP’s answer to MoveOn.org, Act Blue and multiple commercial vendors who provide political technology.” Without giving any details at all about what their Political Suite will look like, the TRLT is asking for pledges of $10 or $25 a month to help take over the world.

• Technorati’s Jen McLean writes that “Nowhere have we seen a bigger impact of blogging and social media on the American political landscape than on the 2008 presidential election,” and she points to — of course! — techPresident’s Technorati charts two illustrate her point. As we’ve been seeing, Barack Obama has the most attention in the blogosphere, and John McCain has yet to spark up the ‘sphere in the same way. Maybe bloggers will get excited about McCain has we move into the general… but that’s a big maybe. (Technorati Chairman David Sifry is the younger brother of techPrez’ Micah Sifry.)

• “Everything moves so fast in the world of online politics… that introspection is often lacking,” writes the Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas. So true. Vargas takes a closer look at President Bush’s online-only interview with the Politico. While Bush did answer some questions from citizens, Vargas councils us that “interactivity doesn’t necessarily lead” to transparency and accountability, and thus George Bush’s no-more-golf-after-Iraq claim isn’t exactly true. However, writes Vargas, the two young superdelegates who asked YouTube viewers who to endorse were using interactivity toward better ends. It’s a great point, and Vargas continues to be one of our foremost chroniclers of the “clickocracy.”

• The DNC’s state blogger credentialing process is on the verge of becoming a fiasco. Marc Ambinder discovered a letter from 21 credentialed state bloggers who are protesting the exclusion of their progressive colleagues from the convention. They allege that some bloggers were chosen for their party loyalty, and not for their progressive bona fides. “The Democratic Party endangers its own long-term viability when it makes fealty a criterion for inclusion,” they write. Matt Stoller calls the credentialing of Cathleen Carrigan, an employee of Michigan Governer Jennifer Granholm “simply absurd… Granholm can get her employees credentials, she doesn’t need to take them from independent progressive activists.” We think it’s about time for some damage control from Howard Dean.

• Second Life collides with ye olde meatspace: when disrupting an event in Second Life, griefers’ (as SL attackers are known) prefer the classic flying penis trick. Activists watching a speech by former chess master and current Russian politican Garry Kasparov took a cue from virtual life and launched a real flying penis as Kasparov spoke. It stayed in the air for about fives seconds before an enterprising politico smacked it out of the air, like a Russian Dikembe Mutombo.

• Crack-for-geeks site Lifehacker doesn’t delve in politics, but a recent post announcing Google Earth’s new Google News layer uses a cool screenshot of news of Barack Obama’s huge rally in Portland layered onto Google Earth. Clearly, the possibilities are endless, but does anyone actually use Google Earth once they’ve downloaded it?

• Check out this new twist on Yes We Can, from tunester Andy Fraser. It’s very, very smooth, kind of like Michael McDonald meets Barry White. One bit of advice, though, Andy: stream the song from your site, don’t make us download it. I guarantee you’ll get more listens, and thus more smoothness for all.

The Candidates on the Web

• None more black! Todd Zeigler at the Bivings Report picked up on a design change for John McCain’s homepage, and it’s definitely for the better. The McCain camp revised with their initial Darth Vader look about a year ago, but the result was still a confusing clutter. The new refresh, which does away with the typical GOP web template and installs big readable fonts, is much needed. But Zeigler doesn’t “think slapping a new coat of paint on their existing strategy” — of basically ignoring the conversational web — is going to help.

• Too little, very late: As it patiently trots toward the sunset, the Hillary Clinton campaign is stepping up its blogger outreach and use of Twitter, reports the New York Times’ Katherine Seelye. Perhaps taking a cue from the McCain camp, Clinton held her first blogger conference call last week (Obama has yet to do so), and has been firing off tweets to Twitter followers more frequently. The online conversation she wanted to have with America never really surfaced; we think she’d be in a better spot now if it had.

• When it comes to governmental use of the web, the Brits are continuing to lap the U.S. The newest example is Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s new initiative, “Ask the PM,” in which the British public can ask him questions via YouTube, and he’ll respond on a regular basis. Seems simple, doesn’t it? In the U.S., we’ll have to first get around those archaic rules barring Congress from even using YouTube. Then we can talk about those conversations.

In Case You Missed It…

We’ll do it live! Check out the video of us editing of this very Daily Digest on Qik.com! (Warning: many bad jokes ahead.)

John McCain’s online team needs to find someone who knows what they’re doing with the campaign’s email list, writes Michael Whitney. Campaign manager Rick Davis sent an email to supporters this afternoon titled “Reckless” - clocking in at 597 words - without including a single link until the 580th word.

Michael Tate offers a quick assessment of Senator McCain’s “Behind the Scenes” videos on YouTube.

As an effective deployment of a modern media strategy, David All shares a recent example engineered by, among others, the Washington State Republican Party putting the hammer to Barack Obama after what All calls a major gaffe while campaigning in Oregon.

We’re still hard at work finalizing the program for this year’s fifth annual Personal Democracy Forum, which is taking place June 23-24 at Rose Hall in New York City, and we’re pleased to be able to share these updates with you on speakers and panels. Don’t wait til the last minute to register, by the way—the early bird rate is going to expire after May 31 and prices are going up. Save $100 by registering now.