The Web on the Candidates

• Ben Smith has a biting piece in the Politico exploring YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook's growing role as arbiters of political speech. "As political communication moves online, a new group of corporate executives and their customer service agents have gained control of the censor's pen - in a forum where the First Amendment does not apply," Smith writes. YouTube in particular has attracted criticism from the left and the right for it's policy of removing "inappropriate" content. However, the expansiveness of the web means that other sites will pop to show content banned on the biggies. "A video posted on a small site might not access the giant communities of YouTube or MySpace, but political bloggers and campaigns could easily direct the members of their own communities to a video posted anywhere.
• Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo has been producing some great online video under the name TPM TV, producing videos that give his insistent investigative reporting more room to breath. He's been extending his coverage of the Alberto Gonzales controversy with new videos that quickly react to new developments, and his team produces great videos essays that pull together news coverage and commentary. While the actual content of the reporting isn't that different from Marshall's blog posts, it's refreshing to see him in front of the camera interacting with televised news reports or even interviewing people like John Kerry. We look forward to seeing how Marshall uses video to cover the presidential race.

The Candidates on the Web

• Bill Richardson has started airing two funny "Job Interview" ads in Iowa, and they've become a hit on YouTube. In the ads, Richardson sits before an interviewer who, unimpressed, discusses Richardson's record: "Okay, 14 years in Congress, UN Ambassador, Secretary of Energy, Governor of New Mexico, negotiated with dictators in Iraq, North Korea, Cuba, Zaire, Nigeria, Yugoslavia, Kenya, got a ceasefire in Darfur, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times, so... what makes you think you can be president?" The ads are funny, surprising, and sticky, and they add another dimension to Richardson's sometimes haggard persona.
• New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has relaunched his personal website, making us wonder if he really is thinking of running for president. It's a simple, clean site that makes heavy use of Bloomberg's biography and, predictably, highlights his achievements as mayor and offers links to news articles. There's no mention of a presidential run, but this could be seen as a first step.

In Case You Missed It...

MySpace has announced it will be hosting a presidential "Town Hall" series on college campuses this fall, and Micah Sifry wonders if this is yet another online debate (YAOD), or does the announcement herald something new for how we interact with the candidates?

David All writes about Mitt Romney's new goal of gaining 24,000 new supporters in 24 hours... can he do it? He probably already has.

Barack Obama is Twittering again, says Lynne d Johnson. This time, he's using it as a platform to make policy announcements.