The Web on the Candidates

• Barack Obama’s message to wealthy Democratic funders is being heard loud and clear. As a result, Progressive Media USA, a new 527 led by David Brock, has essentially shuttered its doors. OpenLeft’s Matt Stoller, ever on the Obama-power beat, is ambivalent about the news. “Basically, [Progressive Media USA] was a very netroots friendly organization doing a lot of very positive anti-McCain work, and was also a potentially important allay [sic] of a new Democratic administration… At the same time, Progressive Media USA was also a soft-money organization dependent not upon small donations from the rank and file of the progressive movement, but instead upon humungous donations from a few dozen extremely wealthy donors,” he writes. The issue exemplifies the struggle between the billionaires and bloggers to make over the Democratic party, as described by Matt Bai in his book The Argument. As Stoller argues, there’s plenty of reason to think the grassroots will remain strong, while groups dependent on soft-money donors may continue to wither.

• While an eMarketer study estimates that 80% of online Americans will watch online videos this year, a small percentage of them will watch political videos, according to eMarketer. A total of 12% of those online watched a campaign ad in December 2007, the study says, and 20% of them were ages 18-29. It’s true that older voters are yet to turn to the web in large numbers to watch campaign ads and videos, but as the Obama campaign has found out, the web is a terrific place to combat television’s sound-bite culture. Take a look at our YouTube charts to see what we mean.

• Warning: serious lewdness ahead. Reacting to Rep. Mark Kirk’s decrying of “toilet sex” in Second Life (the video of Kirk’s complaint is down), Majorly snarky liberal blogger patriotboy, a.k.a Jesus’ General, a.k.a Gen. JC Christian, composed a satirical letter to Kirk in which he describes finding the Larry Craig Center in Second Life, which he calls “a monument to toilet sex.” Ugh. Given patriotboy’s earlier Second Life exploits, in which he built an anti-Rudy Giuliani center, we’re guessing he did more than discover the site. He posted G-rated pictures if you’re interested.

The Candidates on the Web

• As Patrick Ruffini pointed out earlier today, John McCain’s approach to the web is mystifying. On one hand, he does more outreach to bloggers than any other candidate, but on the other he just doesn’t seem to get how to actually use those damn tubes. Case in point: he is now inviting non-conservative bloggers to join his conference calls. “The plan is to take the work we’ve already built on with conservative bloggers and to open up a dialogue with non-conservative bloggers and even nonpolitical bloggers,” McCain staffer Patrick Hynes told the Washington Times’ Stephan Dinan. One non-conservative on the call was Talking Points Memo’s Greg Sargent, who immediately reported that McCain “launched what may be his most direct attack yet on Barack Obama’s national security credentials.”

• Despite the inevitable hits, McCain’s efforts to reach beyond the conservative base may be working. His new focus on climate change — including a pair of websites launched this week — appears to have been swaying Democratic voters.

In Case You Missed It…

It’s Friday, and time to settle in and for some early morning tubin’. In our favorite videos of the week, we’re surprised by the winner of MoveOn’s Obama ad contest; Ralph Nader antagonizes Google; Hillary strikes a softer tone, and Hillary impressions continue to get big laughs.

Micah Sifry is still at the Berkman at 10 conference, and Steve Garfield is busy livestreaming it on Qik. Check out Steve's archive of sessions, including one led by Micah and the Sunlight Foundation’s Ellen Miller on transparency and government.

Good online strategy is simple, writes Patrick Ruffini: reflect the very best of your candidate offline. John McCain offline is transparent, accessible, and willing to answer any question. John McCain online is stilted and awkwardly asking me for money. There’s a fundamental disconnect.

Ari Melber is liveblogging from the Berkman at 10 conference, which he calls the most important Internet gathering in the country.