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Daily Digest: You Never Forget Your First (2 Million)

BY Joshua Sherman | Friday, August 15 2008

The Candidates on the Web

  • MyBO NOOO! Part 2: Yesterday, we accidentally jumped the gun on Jonathan Tilove's story on controversial changes in Barack Obama's social networking system, and for that we apologize. Tilove writes an excellent article that captures the frustration MyBO users are having with the switch from a points system for taking various actions on behalf of the Obama campaign that allowed some of them to really stand out to a more generic "activity tracker” that significantly flattens the standing among activists. MyBO user Lisa Holmes puts it this way: "People say it's not about you, it's about Barack. But it's not. This is our campaign. We put him where he is. We invested in him." #

  • You Never Forget Your First 2 Million: The Obama campaign is reporting that it has reached another milestone this week as it passed the 2 million donor mark. The campaign has raised a total of $340 million through the end of June compared to McCain’s $145 million, who has accepted public financing. The Boston Globe’s Foon Rhee explains that Obama will need to keep up the pace because he isn't taking public funding while McCain, who is taking public funds, is also being helped tremendously by the RNC. #

  • Channel Surfing: Interesting enough, though the McCain’s YouTube channel has dominated Obama’s this month (5 million to 2.5 million), Obama has crushed McCain this week (433,000 to 73,000). How is this possible? An Obama ad released yesterday “Three Bedroom Ranch” has somehow already gotten 74,000 views while “We’re In It Together” barn-painting campaign has gotten over 45,000. Still, those are peanuts compared to McCain’s hits before the Olympics. #

The Web on the Candidates

  • le Presidente technologique: techPresident has been nominated by PoliticsOnline for The Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics. We are honored to be held in the same esteem as groups like mySociety and The Sunlight Foundation. The top 10 nominees who receive the most votes will be invited as honored guests to the world eDemocracy Forum in Paris. Allez, viens! We hope you'll vote for us (blue poll on the right)! #

  • The Reviews Are Starting To Come In On McCain's Technology Plan: Communications law expert Harold Feld has a posted a critical review of McCain’s tech policy. Feld is an Obama supporter, and he zeroes in on what he sees as incongruities in McCain's policy. Most of McCain's tech "policy,” according to Feld, is merely “just variations on McCain's standard “I hate taxes” theme.” #

  • Barely Interesting: BarelyPolitical.com is the third most viewed YouTube channel this week and has already posted ten videos this month. If you haven’t watched a BarelyPolitical video yet, they are usually most successful when the computer effects work. If you have ever been disappointed with the lack of bikini-clad girls in the political process, you will likely have a field day. #

  • MoveOn Special Election Briefing: MoveOn.org has posted a professional video narrated by Director Eli Pariser warning MoveOn members not to get complacenct during the last 100 days of this election. The video outlines 5 reasons why Obama supporters must keep on their toes. Looks like the doldrums of summer are starting to end... #

  • Baracky II: Meanwhile, here is a great little spoof of Rocky II featuring McCain and Obama, a sequel to the original Baracky. This one is well done, so well done that we wonder who is actually behind it. Here's hoping we'll get to see a Rocky IV spoof, featuring former Russian former-President Vladimir Putin as Ivan Drago. #

TechCongress and Beyond

  • Those Wretched High School Freshmen!! Republican Representative Virgil Goode lashes out at the Obamajority, an ActBlue fundraising page started by a 14 year old blogger. The blogger, Populista, has on DailyKos.com has set a goal of getting 50 donors for Democratic challenger Tom Perriello. Well, mission accomplished: according to the ActBlue page, 53 donors have contributed and have doubled the amount raised since the time of posting. #

In Case You Missed It...

The Colbert Report’s Stephen Colbert covers McCain’s “wiki-policy” (that is, supposedly lifting facts from Wikipedia). Colbert says McCain is “now using the people’s voice, or at least, lip-synching to it.” #

Following Mark Penn's e-mails that leaked last week, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg and Jennie Rothenberg Gritz have found some e-mails from the Obama campaign that show a campaign in crisis as well. #

The Economist on Technology in Politics: The Economist has a great article that provides a pretty complete overview of the importance of technology in elections since Howard Dean’s presidential run. The article features techPresident Founder & President Andrew Rasiej. #

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.

GO

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