The Web on the Candidates

• MyDD's Jonathan Singer interviewed John Kerry on his book tour and Kerry unexpectedly mentioned that John McCain had approached him in 2004 about joining the ticket as Vice President.  While Kerry declined to discuss this more, when pushed by Singer to confirm the remark, he replied, "Absolutely correct."  Needless to say, Singer doesn't think the allegation bodes well for McCain.  "This story could hardly come at a worse time for McCain, whose campaign for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination is already noticeably foundering," he writes.
• Michael McElroy at the Caucus wraps up the blogosphere's treatment of John McCain in light of his recent trip to Iraq, his disappointing fundraising numbers, and his alleged overture to John Kerry about being Vice President in 2004.  Kevin Drum said about McCain's trip to Iraq, "Note to conservatives... do you really think you can get away with pretending that the whole trip went smoothly and the press is merely being unfair in its reporting?" ( McCain has been criticized for painting a rosy picture of Iraq after his visit there).  Michelle Malkin, however, said that "while I'm no fan of his, what he has been saying the past week is the reality we saw when we were in Baghdad in January. It ain’t a stroll in the park. It’s a war zone, for heaven’s sake. But it ain’t all Armageddon either.”  More at the Caucus.        

The Candidates on the Web

• Jeff Jarvis' PrezConference experiment -- in which citizens upload videos of themselves asking candidates questions -- has received its first presidential reply, from Joe Biden.  Ourmedia.org co-founder JD Lasica (sitting by a bay in California and holding an American flag) asked, "What would you call for as President in asking for sacrifices from the American people."  Biden responded that, first, he would ask for sacrifices "relating to energy," changing the cars we drive, up the mileage that they're required to have, etc.  The second sacrifice would be for the war effort: eliminating tax cuts to pay for the war, though we should end the war, but we should pay for the war... it was a little confusing.   

In Case You Missed It...

Open Source Policy Development
The Obama campaign is apparently releasing an open source policy development tool.  It seems as though in the coming months the Obama campaign tool will allow for users to propose ideas and debate and refine each other's ideas, and the campaign will incorporate the best into the campaign’s policy.

DevalPatrick.com: A Real Dialogue with Voters
Deval Patrick, the new governor of Massachusetts, has rolled his old campaign web site into a new site that opens the door to citizens who want to directly propose and discuss important issues, and for the Governor himself to get into the fray.  Here's hoping the presidential candidates take notice.

The Continuing Significance of Email Among African Americans
The Hillary Clinton/1984 YouTube mashup may have made headlines in the mainstream community. But among African Americans, Bacardi Jackson's recent email condemning shallow African American criticism of Barack Obama has garnered significant attention. Why does email continue to be such a big driver of political discourse in the African American community?

Note: In honor of the Passover holiday, the Daily Digest will be on be on a diet for the rest of the week and the posts will be shorter.  We will resume full digestion on Monday (too many matzoh balls nothwithstanding).