I'm taking a crack at liveblogging an event tonight [ed. -- now last night] at NYU featuring Arun Chaudhary, director of video field production for the Obama campaign, in conversation with Ellen McGirt, senior writer at Fast Company and author of magazine's April 2008 cover story "The Brand Called Obama." Arun left his job as an adjunct film professor at NYU to produce video that pulls from public events, behind the scenes, and one-on-ones -- unique creative content that populates BarackObama.com and a YouTube channel. Let's get started.

Ever wanted to be able to show someone exactly how a "meme" moves across the web in real-time? Anthony Hamelle of Linkfluence has posted a video doing exactly that. He zeroes in on two political videos that made a big splash at the height of summer: the McCain campaign's successful viral attack on Barack Obama as a "Celeb," which compared him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in the wake of his European tour and scored well over a million views; and Paris Hilton's snarky response, which ultimately overtook McCain with something over three million views.

More than two-thirds of the 500,000 Obama volunteers who responded to an online survey asking about their interest in future activities in the wake of their involvement with the campaign responded that they "would like to continue to volunteer in the communities as part of an Obama for America 2.0 organization." And the number one thing these volunteers said they want to do next is work to support the next President's legislative agenda.

So reported Paulette Aniskoff, the Obama Pennsylvania field director, who shared those numbers this past weekend during the Rootscamp gathering at Trinity College in Washington, DC. Saturday afternoon's talk by Aniskoff attracted at least 100 out of the approximately 500 people attending the "unconference." More details after the jump...

In an interview on Air Force One, President Obama said that he "rarely" reads blogs. It's not altogether surprising that he's not spending time reading much of anything beyond the morning papers and the policy briefing books his staff gives him. He does, after all, have more than a few things on his plate. But in his answer, there may be some insight into why the professorial Obama has long had a testy relationship with the blogosphere: he finds blogs simplistic.

With some help from our friends at the indispensable TubeMogul, we've got three new YouTube charts up for your data-tracking pleasure. The first shows daily views of Barack Obama's YouTube channel, which continues to be used by Organizing for America. Looks like there's still a sizable following out, judging by a daily viewership of between 60,000 and 120,000, roughly. The other two charts are aggregating the total views, by party, for Senators and Representatives using YouTube's new official channels, Househub and Senatehub. Plus, after the jump, a complete list of all the channels.

Slate's John Dickerson is reporting that "In an effort to educate the public on the state of the economy and his plans for improving it, President Obama is considering a series of short televised addresses similar to Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats." According to Dickerson, "Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has told the television networks that the administration may request more time than usual for a president. Gibbs did not provide a schedule but described the addresses as lasting about 10 minutes each." How 20th century of the President.

The political world is abuzz, wondering whether the first big ask from Organizing for America to its multi-million email list is going to produce a shift in the battle over President Obama's budget proposal. It will take awhile to tell, of course, and the real measure will be in how Members of Congress respond to phone calls from their constituents, and indeed whether OFA can generate a big wave of grassroots pressure.

Organizing for America brings out the big gun: the President, who is featured in this morning's email blast to his campaign list and via YouTube video. "Passing this budget won't be easy," he says, as the video closes with a big ask. "That's where you come in. That's why I'm asking you to head outside this Saturday to knock on some doors. Talk to some neighbors and let people know how important this budget is to our future. And that's why I'm asking you to stay involved in the days ahead. By writing letters and making phone calls and summoning the spirit that first gave us this chance for change. Now is our moment to seize that chance."

• Gov. Corzine is using the web to get suggestions on the state budget, reports GovTech. Unfortunately, it's just a one-way suggestion-box form. FAIL.
• Celebrity shlock blog TMZ decides that politics actual does have good looking people. Now, could they go stalk some lobbyists, please?
• President Obama's teleprompter has a blog. Now that's funny. And it's already sucking up to Rush Limbaugh. And that's not.
• Colorado and Nebraska are using Twitter accounts to share news of recovery spending
• US Justice Dept reviews LittleSis and WhoRunsGov.

Organizing for America rolled out its "Pledge Project Canvass" this past weekend, and reports about 1200 groups went door-knocking across the country seeking signatures in support of President Obama's budget priorities. Considering that OFA boasted somewhere between three and four thousand house parties back in December, when the Obama campaign was gathering information from grass-roots activists about what they wanted to do next, this is a significant drop-off. The Washington Post reported that

"the organization remains skeletal, and the Pledge Project does not nearly cover the 435 congressional districts. The organization aims to develop a structure -- including at least one paid staffer in each state -- in time for larger fights over health-care, climate change and education legislation. "'This is all being driven by volunteers. It's an extremely exhilarating process, but also nerve-racking,' an Obama veteran said. 'We have a very, very scaled-down staff as of right now.'

While a few of us pointed out last November/December that the Obama campaign was missing a huge opportunity to keep its momentum going, it's also clear that community organizing has an ebb and flow, and clearly now OFA is in a (re)building period. It is also operating in uncharted territory with what, at best, is a really tough challenge (organizing support for a broad legislative agenda) and, at worst, is "an entirely unengaging project, where all the decisions are made for you in advance," in the words of Dean campaign veteran Zephyr Teachout.