On Monday I went to Charleston, S.C. for the Dems' YouTube/CNN debate. I was planning on live-blogging the debate, and man did I have a great seat, but given the intense level of security at the Citadel (no electronics whatsoever), that wasn't an option.

I did however grab my camera to talk with some of the candidates and Internet strategists after the debate in the "spin room." And thankfully, some of them were willing to give away some free advice for the Republican candidates for the upcoming YouTube/CNN debate in Florida on September 17. (Submit your questions here.)

Below the fold find short vlogs with Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, Joe Trippi (Edwards), Peter Leyden (New Politics Institute), Danny Glover (National Journal), and Steve Peterson (Bivings, YouTube user).

The buffet line for vlogs begins after the jump...

Emailing Democratic superdelegates; divining why Silicon Valley voting for Clinton; youth registration and voting keeps rising; rating the best political data visualizations; Obama and Clinton keep raising huge amounts online, with Obama pulling away; meanwhile GOP efforts look flat; Obama vs U2?; Hillary's plugging her url a lot more; and viral political video here and in Australia

Mashable's Ben Parr has a recap of the House Republicans New Media Caucus' trip out to that land rich in campaign cash and street cred known as California, where they meet with folks from Facebook, Apple, Oracle, and more. The delegation included Bob Latta of Ohio, Rob Wittman of Virginia, and John Culberson of Texas.

Parr notes that the gist of delegation's trip to CNET HQ was, unsurprisingly, that Uncle Sam shouldn't “breath down the necks” of tech companies just trying to make it in this world. The argument isn't perhaps the most rooted in reality, given all that government has done to nurture and grow Silicon Valley, from funding the R&D that often evolves into the latest and greatest new thing to sustaining the universities that produce all those Google engineers. No word from Parr on how well the GOP's new media message was received. (Photo credit: Ben Parr)