The Web on the Candidates

• The wikiscanning continues. This time, Campaigns & Elections finds a few minor edits from Barack Obama's campaign, including adding to the entry on the Beach Boys song, "Barbara Ann," "John McCain punned the song humorously in a campaign speech on April 19, 2007. He referred to it as 'Bomb Bomb Iran.'" Someone on John McCain's staff updated Sen. Jack Reed's education info and removed a critique of an Adam Sandler movie. I love WikiScanner, and have used it myself to find some questionable edits, but when will these articles about uncontroversial edits stop?
• Wired's Sarah Lai Stirland profiles techPresident contributor David All, identifying him as part of a group of young conservatives trying to become "the next-generation Karl Roves." As I wrote yesterday, All et al. are busy organizing Modern Media Strategies workshops and host of other projects, including Slatecard, a the GOP's response to Act Blue. It will take a different approach to fundraising and identifying candidates. "We'll have a tag such as 'illegal immigration,' and when you click on it, you'd be able to see all of the voters who are supporting candidates based on that issue," All says. Are they really going to divulge that level of personal info? Hmmm. He isn't alone. Ryan Gravatt and Brad Jackson, lobbyists online strategists with the Patriot Group, have started Big Red Tent, their own answer to progressive online fundraising.
• In a new video, James Kotecki says he's noticed that almost every presidential candidate is breaking the law by uploading cable news interviews to their YouTube channel. This, they may not know, is illegal, since it's copyrighted material. The news orgs don't seem to care, Kotecki says, since it's a way to monetize content that would otherwise be lost forever. But until we have updated copyright laws that take the realities of the digital age into account, the candidates are technically breaking the law.
• And now for something completely different. Cracked, which has been producing spot-on satire of the CNN/YouTube debates, asks, "What would happen if a YouTuber REALLY moderated a Presidential debate?" It's moderated by "This guy, who posts a lot of random vlogs to YouTube." He asks a lot mostly silly questions and mixes in answers from the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate. Sometimes it's pretty hysterical. For example: Question: "Barack, give us some really crappy campaign promises." Obama: "We are not gonna fix health care, we're not gonna fix energy, we are not gonna do anything about our education system." Watch it now, I promise it ain't bacn.

The Candidates on the Web

• Over at the Bivings Report, Todd Zeigler lists the most popular YouTube videos from Democratic candidates, rating them by number of views. Numbers one and two are... you guessed it, Hillary Clinton asking for advice on her theme music, and Hillary getting advice (which combine for close to a million views). Other greatest hits include video of Ann Coulter saying she wished John Edwards was killed by terrorists (#4 with 294,280 views), Edwards' Hair video (#7 with 230,784 views), and Bill Richardson's job interview (probably my favorite; #8 with 208,210 views).
• All of those online friends on Facebook and MySpace could prove pivotal in the 2008 election, writes Reuters' Andy Sullivan. "Candidates see social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace as tools to win over young voters who are difficult to reach through more traditional campaigning," and this support could actually translate into more votes. By this logic, candidates not on Facebook or MySpace may be missing thousands or millions of votes. "Rudy Giuliani is absolutely making a big mistake by not being active on Facebook," says 19-year-old L.J. Tsunis. "Millions of votes could be had on here that may swing the election one way or the other."

In Case You Missed It...

Former Iraqi interim Prime Minster Ayad Allawi is running to replacing Nouri Al-Maliki as Prime Minister, and a Republican lobbying firm has been hired to produce his website, writes Alan Rosenblatt.

MySpace and MTV are teaming up to produce "conversations" between the candidates and voters using email, text, and IM. There's been more coverage in BusinessWeek, the Washington Post's The Trail, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Politico.

David All, Patrick Ruffini, and others are teaming up to provide a potent challenge to liberal dominance of the web.