Daily Digest: OMG BRK OBMA TXTS 4 VP

BY Joshua Sherman | Monday, August 11 2008

Obama texts his supporters his choice of VP, is Obama the first "cybergenic" candidate?, What will McCain do for VP?, Obama hits back at two McCain ads, the blogs respond to Edwards' extramarital affair, Bush enjoys women's beach volleyball, and Barack gets "Rick Rolled"

The Candidates on the Web

TXT 4 VP LOL: The Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas reports that the Obama campaign will announce his vice presidential nominee via a cell phone text message sometime before the Democratic National Convention. The Obama campaign sent out an invitation last night via e-mail and text message to its supporters to participate in this revolutionary form of announcement. Vargas notes three things: “the casual reference to the candidate ("Barack"); the call to "forward" the text (to friends, relatives, etc.); the perceived personal appeal of being "the first to know"; and the timing -- the text was sent two weeks before the Democratic National Convention kicks off. That gives plenty of time for the text to be passed around.” Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) of the New York Times asked on Twitter if it was smart or silly and the response has been mixed. Jeff Jarvis thinks it’s silly while Adam Mordecai of Advomatic, Todd Ziegler of Bivings ,and techPresident editor Micah Sifry think it’s smart. #
Epic Pwnage? The Obama Campaign’s “Fact Check” division released a response to McCain’s “Family “ attack ad. The video is over three minutes long, has horrible sound quality (I had to use my earphones), and has not amassed many views (just over 65,000). The video, however, strangely benefits from the lack of quality – it really feels like you are sitting down with Brian Deese, Obama’s deputy economic policy director. Though the story has done well on Digg, but I don’t know if I would call this “EPIC PWNAGE.” #
The Celebrity Game: The Obama campaign released “Embrace,” their ad response to “Celebrity,” McCain’s biggest YouTube hit so far. The ad accuses McCain of being “Washington’s biggest celebrity”, therefore not only hitting right back on the celebrity charge but connecting McCain with Washington (old politics, broken system, etc.). The ad starts with John McCain walking on to the Late Show with David Letterman, appearing on The View, then hugging George W. Bush. Though the ad acknowledges the sting that must have been felt by the Obama campaign, the ad is effective and uses a much different tone from McCain’s ad. We'll be keeping an eye on "Embrace"'s viewership, to see if it can top McCain's Celebrity views. #

The Web on the Candidates

Cybergenic? Maybe Not: The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik responds to Paul Saffo's recent column on ABCNews.com about "Obama's 'cybergenic' edge." Zurawik asks “Is Obama the first ‘cybergenic’ candidate?” Zurawik challenges the idea that Obama is to new media what FDR and JFK were to radio and t.v., respectively. While Zurawik acknowledges Obama’s extensive use of new media, he says “follow the money.” The record spending on Olympics advertising suggests that T.V. is still king. #
How Will McCain Announce His VP 2.0? The Next Right’s Patrick Ruffini offers a strategy for John McCain’s VP announcement to compete with the Obama campaign’s VP text plan. Ruffini writes the McCain campaign should email 100 supporters selected at random an hour before the official announcement. This not only would enable the campaign to make a strong push to collect e-mail addresses, the 100 people selected would get to feel like “real insiders.” The question is, does McCain want to get baited into a battle of new media? #
So Long, Mr. Haircut: The blogs have been chatting away on John Edwards (check our charts). Ruby Sinreich writes a nice little piece that reflects the betrayal his supporters feel and the relief that he is not a presidential candidate. She believes that his decision to play both sides after he stepped out of the race reflects an ego-driven politician’s purely self-serving attitude. #
Barack Roll: Oh, and Barack gets Rick Rolled (or did Rick Astley get Barack Rolled?) Thanks to the inimitable Hugh Atkin. #

In Case You Haven't Noticed...

President Bush has been busy at the Beijing Olympics, and YouTubers have noticed. He apparently had time to visit with the women's beach volleyball team. Here it is, your moment of Zen. #

News Briefs

RSS Feed yesterday >

This Isn't What Political Air Time Usually Means

MoveOn.org is asking supporters for $150,000 in donations to fly a plane above high-dollar fundraisers for Mitt Romney with "a message that reminds voters how he represents his corporate and 1% donors." MoveOn previously hired a plane to fly over Romney's Liberty University graduation speech with the message "GOP = HIGHER SCHOOL DEBT." GO

yesterday >

There's a New $200 Million Fund for Super-High-Speed Broadband Projects

An initiative to build and test gigabit-speed broadband networks is set to fund up to six next-generation Internet access projects across the country, fueled by a new $200 million broadband development funding program, Gigabit Squared and Gig.U announced this morning. GO

New Rice University Paper Chronicles Impact of the Internet On U.S. Foreign Policy

We all know that the Internet has transformed the way that the United States conducts diplomacy, and the way that it views national security, but where should we look to find evidence of this? This is the wide-ranging subject matter of a new paper published on Tuesday by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The paper provides a round-up of some of the major turns of events between 2005 and 2011 in the realms of Internet governance, the development of online public diplomacy at the State Department, the evolution of the Internet-fueled Arab Spring, and the establishment of the shadowy U.S. Cyber Command in Fort Meade, Maryland, among other things. GO

Messin' with Lamar Smith, Revisited

Remember that grassroots fundraising campaign to put a "Don't Mess with the Internet" billboard in the home district of Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas and sponsor of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act? All of the money required came in, and Fight for the Future, the advocacy group opposing more stringent copyright protections online, writes that the billboard went up. GO

Republican National Convention Organizers Sever Ties With Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions

After eight years producing online content for the Republican National Convention, GOP web consultant Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions is off of the project. "Campaign Solutions was retained to help develop our convention website and digital strategy, but they are no longer involved in convention planning," James Davis, the convention's communications director, told techPresident Tuesday. It's unclear what precipitated the of the relationship between the convention organizers and Campaign Solutions, which has been producing the online component of the event since 2004. But Donatelli's name surfaced in a controversial anti-Obama ad pitch sent to a Super PAC backed by TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, which appeared in its entirety in the Times last week. Ricketts has since disavowed the proposal and Donatelli has denied any involvement. GO

PD+ This Thurs 1pm: Thriving Online With Howard Rheingold

I'm really looking forward to talking with author Howard Rheingold this Thursday on the next PD+ teleconference. His new book, Net Smart, is a concise and thoughtful guide to understanding and making the most of the hyper-networked, always-on, firehose of information and distraction that is the contemporary experience of anyone who uses ... GO

City of Joplin, Mo. Launches New Online Center Ahead of Tornado's Anniversary

The city of Joplin, Missouri launched its new web site over the week-end ahead of the May 22 anniversary of the massive tornado that devastated the city and killed 161 people. The new site enables Joplin citizens to sign up for emergency alerts via text message, e-mail and RSS. In addition to those alerts, individuals can also sign up for ... GO

In Virginia, City Council Debates to Include Questions Posed Online

The Alexandria Democratic Party in Alexandria, Virginia has partnered with online civic engagement platform ACTion Alexandria to include questions solicited in an online forum in the final Democratic primary debate for a City Council election there on June 4, ahead of the June 12 election, according to a statement released by the group. ACTion Alexandria hopes to work with both parties during the general election.

Participants in the project can add questions to the forum, or vote on questions that have already been posed, although each user is only given three votes to distribute. Users are also encouraged to use their real names. Questions submitted so far hit on topics ranging from broadband access to a ban on food trucks in the city.

Online Organizing

WeGov

GOP 2012

Obama 2012