The Web on the Candidates 

• The key to the 2008 presidential race won't the be candidates' stands on issues like Iraq, global warming, or the economy.  Instead, suggests Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle, it's all about the brand.  "The hope is that 'Hillary' conjures up 'experienced leader,' 'Obama' translates into 'fresh outsider' and 'Rudy' means 'America's mayor,'" she writes.  Adds Richard Levick, president of Levick Strategic Communications, "If anyone had any doubt about how we choose the most important political office in the U.S. ... we do it by the brand rather than the ideas.  We choose them as we do diapers or cornflakes ... we buy things emotionally.''  Referring to the "Vote Different" 1984 ad, Levick said, "This ad wasn't done by the (Sen. Barack) Obama camp, but it did exactly what they wanted to do.  Position (Clinton) as the IBM to their Apple. She's old Washington, he's the fresh face."  Peter Leyden of the New Politics Institute has a slightly different take:  "What we're going through right now is a phase shift in politics -- which is going from a top- down, centralized, hierarchical world to a much more democratized, bottom-up, participatory form, and that transition is extremely difficult for the current players in politics."
• On the day of Obama's "community kickoff" event this weekend, in which supporters met at house parties around the country, other supporters preferred to meet virtually at Obama's unofficial HQ in Second Life.  I was there and witnessed a Obama-like avatar standing on a stage above the supporters.  He was silent as the supporters milled about, talking about politics and their support for Obama.  Supporters were asked to donate money directly through Obama's own web site, so there wasn't an immediate way to track any fundraising successes or failures. 
• Shira Toeplitz of The Hotline On Call's "On the Download" rounds up last week's incidents of online hackery, tomfoolery, and chicanery.  First there's McCain's MySpace page, then Obama's YouTube numbers (disclosure: I'm quoted), then the possibility of MySpace bugs that could deliver viruses to computers when users simply view candidates' MySpace pages.    
• How do you make an online video?  Peter Leydon and the NPI joined forces with PoliticsTV to produce a video about the origins of online political video, and how to join in the fun yourself. (via AirCongress)

 
The Candidates on the Web

• Hillary Clinton has raised $26 million and John Edwards has raised $14 million in the first fundraising quarter of 2007.   Hillary's numbers are breaking records for this early in the campaign season, and Edwards is holding his own.  While Hillary has clearly raised much more than Edwards, the online amounts are much closer: Clinton has raised $4.2 million and Edwards $3.3 million online.  Barack Obama is expected to announce figures close to Hillary's, and the runners-up are Bill Richardson with $6 million, Chris Dodd with $4 million, Joe Biden with $3 million, though Biden's figure includes less than $2 million from his Senate campaign account.  No Republicans have announced their numbers. 
• Over at MyDD Jerome Armstrong wrote that "in the last 36 hours of the online money race [the end ofthe first fundraising quarter], Edwards supporters have turned it on," and doubled the number of online contributors to over 33,000.  Barack Obama increased his numbers by 11,000 in the same time frame.  So while Edwards is reporting much less money than Hillary, and probably Obama, Armstrong thinks these numbers indicate his campaign is "on fire."
• Tommy Thompson has officially announced he's running for president but his web site hasn't changed at all.  While there's a news feed in the bottom left corner linking to a story about his announcement, everything else is exactly the same as it was last week, including the header at the top of the page that says, "Thompson Presidential Exploratory Committee."

In Case You Missed It...

If You Think Mobile Technology Does Not Influence Elections...
Apparently, the National Election Committee of Cambodia has asked that SMS be shut down from March 31 to April 1 at 3pm, the days leading up to Cambodia's elections, because "it can be used as a tool for election campaign by political parties".

The Obama "Hope, Action, Change" Houseparties
Yesterday the Obama campaign organized about 5000 house parties in 50 states, with live video of Barack online. There was also blogging and video from "typical" house parties, like Janet Sutherland's gathering in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

On "Hillary 1984": Phil de Vellis Speaks to YouTube and PoliticsTV

YouTube news and politics editor Steve Grove has a great interview up on YouTube with Phil de Vellis (a.k.a. "ParkRidge47") on how and why he made the now famous "Vote Different"/Hillary 1984 video.

In Case You Missed the Results
In case you missed it last week, The Hotline On Call published its Democratic and Republican insiders poll about the presidential candidate websites. 22 Democratic and 24 Republican internet strategists were polled for these articles.

Don't Be Deceived by "Average" Contribution Amounts
After the first quarter ends, some presidential campaigns may tout their "average" contribution amount in order to appear "grassroots." But this can be deceiving.

Scarier Than 1984
While we are all looking at how the candidates are using the web andhow the web is using the candidates, Alan Rosenblatt thinks he has discovered an interesting twist: how the web is not using the candidates.