Daily Digest: Fighting for the Future of the Online Right

The Web on the Candidates

• The Next Generation Right Roots: The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini has created a stir. Patrick's arguing that right rooters, or members of the conservative online class, need to quit trying to be the next George Will and focus on producing more and better Karl Roves. Less punditry, says Patrick, and more activism, with all that that entails -- strategizing, messaging, and shaking the coin cup for candidates on occasion. After some blowback, Patrick tried to clarify his argument. He's not talking about shilling for the GOP, he says. A vibrant right roots might even primary incumbents, like should have happened in Lincoln Chafee's '06 Senate race in Rhode Island. If you think what Patrick is describing sounds a lot like how the left's netroots has behaved, bingo. #

• You've Seen One Debate...: I don't know, I thought Jim Brokaw Schieffer did a decent job moderating the presidential debate. Wait, those were three separate events? Well I'll be. The Huffington Post's comedy channel 23/6 has spliced together footage from the head-to-heads in Nashville, Mississippi, and Long Island, and they certainly did coverage much of the same ground. #

• Mapping Elections Past and Present: The Google Earth team and the University of Richmond are offering up a bird's-eye look at how the U.S. has voted in presidential races going back to Ronald Reagan's Electoral College trouncing of Jimmy Carter. Grab the KML file here. Maps that don't reflect how Americans are distributed across the country don't, of course tell the full story -- the popular vote in 1980 was much closer than that bright red map would lead you to think. With that in mind, have a look at a map created by our Andrew Rasiej, journalist Adam Penenberg, and design firm Studio E9. Reflecting each state's footprint by population and not, as Earl Warren famously put it, "trees and acres," it shows "America as it really is." This just in: we're hearing that Google Maps will be offering up real-time mapping of AP election results on Tuesday. Stay tuned for more details. #

• Dog-Whistles and the Web: Some of us might scratch our head to hear George Bush describe Iraq as "a comma." But says, the Nation's Ari Melber, it makes perfect sense if you're familiar with the proverb "never put a period where God has put a comma." But are those dog whistles going the way of whistle-stop tours in the age of the Internet? "Dog whistles and secret smears" says Ari, bubble up to prominence today via the web. In the past, politicians could reasonably put distance themselves between and stealth attacks, like with 2000's charges against John McCain and his family in South Carolina. But knowing that they may well have to answer for them might give candidates pause. #

• A Little Last-Minute Help Making a Choice: It can be tough to believe after a two year campaign, but some people are still making their way to the web to figure out whether it will be John or Barack (or, of course, someone else entirely). The opinion hub Where I Stand is reporting a whopping 900% increase in traffic in the last week or so. They pin the increase on a new comparison wizard that helps figure out which candidate suits a voter best. #

The Candidates on the Web

• McCain Camp's Scheduling Conflicts: So, a McCain campaign bold-faced name skips on pre-planned appearance, citing scheduling troubles. Meanwhile, however, he pops up on the teevee box. Nope, this isn't about the candidate and Dave Letterman. McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin pulled out of a Wired-New America Foundation tech policy event at the last minute yesterday. He later turned up on MSNBC at the same time the event was taking place. #

TechCongress and Beyond

• Silicon Valley Stands Against Prop 8: Wow, so Mike Arrington has a soft and fuzzy side? The TechCrunch founder highlights a full-page political ad that will run in the San Jose Mercury news tomorrow. Signed by dozens of prominent Valley figures, from Twitter's Evan Williams to Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg to Federated Media's John Battelle, the ad opposes the measure on the ballot that would rollback same-sex marriage rights in California. Mike: "I want to make fun of the wine and cheese crowd flocking to jump on the anti-Prop. 8 bandwagon, but I'm not going to. Discrimination in any form isn't acceptable, and banning gay marriage is discrimination." #

• Have Video Phone, Will Travel: Looks like someone learned something at Personal Democracy Forum '08. After seeing a Nokia N95 demonstrated at this year's conference, the good folks at Florida's Sayfie Review decided to do on-the-ground video streaming from across the hotly-contested Sunshine State this election day. Politico's Jonathan Martin calls it "pretty cool." We agree. #

In Case You Missed It...

David Colarusso, part of the team behind our 10Questions project, explains his new citizen-engagement effort, BigDialog: "The way we interact with Government is about to change, and the shape of that change is up to us. The Internet is not just a way to raise money or mobilize supporters. It's a way to shrink the distance between people and politicians."

Change.org is hiring more bloggers. If you like to write online and, oh, might have a bit more time in your schedule come Wednesday, this might be the gig for you.

And on the Twitter Vote Report front, things are heating up. Our iPhone and Android apps are both now available. We got some good press mentions by Techcrunch, Fox News, and others. Do stop over twittervotereport.com and check in on what we're up to.