It's been a busy week in the 2008 presidential campaign--Hillary Clinton launched her online "conversation" (see David Weinberger's spot-on critique) and went to Iowa; John Edwards also did an online video web-chat that he calls a "live online discussion"; Barack Obama laid low and let the explosive growth of one unofficial Facebook group (now at more than 158,000 members) speak for him; and Bill Richardson formally announced his campaign launch.

Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) launches his presidential bid this morning and according to Beth Fouhy of the Associated Press, the longtime senator will announce his candidacy via online video to supporters.

While in Iowa this weekend, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) was caught on microphone singing the national anthem out of tune, reports the New York Times' Patrick Healy. The new media that sparked a "conversation" about her announcement message quickly turned on her as the video made it to YouTube within hours.

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) launched his presidential campaign, via web video, in a hail of controversy regarding comments he made in reference to fellow Democrat, Senator Barack Obama (IL). Within hours, the audio of his remarks made it to YouTube, as did a clip of FOX News -- no stranger to an Obama controversy -- airing Biden's clarification. The senator later joked about it with The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart. (Video here.)

In South Carolina, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is determined to win as he picked up the support of forty State House members -- all caught on video -- via Laurin Manning of South Carolina '08.

Jake Tapper, senior national correspondent for ABC News, has a series of web videos outlining the historical racial insensitivities of presidential aspirant, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE).

Copies of Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) "I'm in" video has appeared on YouTube and, collectively, amassed over 7,100 views, according to Donna Bogatin at ZDNet. However, the official upload, Bogatin writes, is not a "viral video sensation," registering only 550 views and eight subscribers to the "hillarydotcom" channel.

TPMCafe's Election Central has video highlights from six possible Democratic presidential hopefuls from the Democratic National Committee's Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C. Among the official, exploring, or rumored candidates: Senators Christopher Dodd (CT), Hillary Clinton (NY), Barack Obama (IL), John Edwards (NC), Congressman Dennis Kucinich (OH) and retired General Wes Clark (AR). ABC's Political Punch has more, including a podcast from the DNC meeting.
Obama (D-IL) drew over "3,000 mostly sign-waving students" in Virginia, notes New York Times political blogger, Sarah Wheaton. The event was sponsored by the George Mason University chapter of Students for Barack Obama, a national, student-based grassroots organization. The group used Facebook, a social networking favorite among college students, to handle RSVPs for the February 2 appearance. More from the Associated Press here.

ZDNet tech blogger Donna Bogatin examines the online outreach of Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and the results are mixed. She labeled his announcement speech ìstaidî and failing to make him stand out from other candidates declaring online. Questioning Biden's ability to connect to potential voters, Bogatin writes, "Perhaps Jill [Biden] should give Joe lessons in networking" after photos of the senator's wife receive more attention than the senator himself.

Jeremy Bronson, reporting for MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, chronicled how candidates are combating the YouTube effect and trying to turn it around in their favor.

It's 9:16 AM in Boston and I just visited BarackObama.com to check on the time of his live webstream. It's at 10:50 AM EST, but even more interesting is his new website.

Lot's to see here and explore before the announcement. The first thing you notice is the campaign's logo. It's the letter O in blue with red and white stripes at the bottom. There are menu options for Learn, Issues, Get Involved, Blog, Newsroom and Donate. You've also got In the News and an Obama Store.

There's a section called My.BarackObama.com which is subtitled, "This Campaign is About You" and has options to Create a Profile, Find Supporters Near You, Plan and Attend Events, Network, Become a Fundraiser, Write a Blog. There's also an Upcoming Events section.

On the far right is BarackTV. Clicking on that brings you to a page with an embedded Brightcove video player. There's a large video on the left with a listing of five videos on the right. When I play the video is smooth with no stuttering. You can also increase the size and make it bigger. I don't see any way to subscribe though to be notified of new videos.

I'd like to spend more time exploring all the features of the site, but right now I'm going to take a closer look at the buttons at the bottom of the page.

Everyone knows the story about the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debate. Nixon showed up at the debate pale, with a terrible 5:00 shadow, and his shirt didn't fit. He refused to wear makeup to improve his appearance on TV, fearing embarrassment in the press. Even though his performance was comparable to Kennedy's, he lost the debate in the voter's minds because he just looked awful.

Today, of course, all candidates and campaign managers know they must understand television, and media consultants sit within the inner-most circle informing and overseeing every single decision--even down to what shirt to wear for debate night.

For the Internet in politics, it's 1960 again. And I can't tell you how painful it is, as someone who knows the power of this medium, to watch a candidate with as much potential as Obama just blowing it--just like Nixon did with TV in his first run.

The progressive blogosphere has been waiting with baited breath for news about the fate of John Edwards' bloggers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen after they were criticized for writing anti-Catholic slurs before working for Edwards. Salon reported that they were fired yesterday, but TAPPED and others have heard otherwise. And Glenn Greenwald has been building an unbelievably long list of links to other blogs covering this.

The MSM has been covering the story with mixed value; for example Time Magazine does a decent job of putting it into larger context, but oddly claims that the story has an antecedent in "Democrat" John Thune's hiring of bloggers in his run against Senator Tom Daschle in "2005." Hello, rewrite? (Read our seminal story on the Thune bloggers episode here.

John Edwards decided not to fire bloggers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen for things they wrote before he hired them, receiving acclaim from the left and the right, respectively. "This is all being made up as we go along," said Simon Rosenberg of the New Democrat Network in the Times' wrap-up, which compared the Edwards bloggers' statements to inflammatory statements made by Patrick J. Hynes, the conservative blogger hired by John McCain.

Glenn Greenwald claims success at getting the "MSM" to balance the story: "[the blogosphere] forced into the public discussion critical facts that were being omitted and which exposed the absurdity of this story, thereby providing a counterweight to the joint right-wing/media pressure on Edwards to capitulate to these forces." John Palfrey calls the attacks on Edwards' bloggers "an extension of classic opposition research. It points to some of the risks at having people blog on behalf of a campaign in an official capacity." Phil Noble adds, "we have a new technology that's disrupting the whole political process, and we haven't figured out what the rules are."