The Web on the Candidates

OpenSecrets.org has built an amazing Flash tool that graphically represents the links between the top five contributors to presidential campaigns and the candidates. The candidate and donor names are featured in bubbles, and when you click on, say, Mitt Romney's bubble, you'll see his top five donors (Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital, HIG Capital, Kirkland & Ellis, Marriott International). Click on the Goldman Sachs bubble and you'll see who they've contributed to (Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, and Barack Obama) and on and on... [via epolitics]

Unbeknownst to most followers of the candidates, John McCain is a huge Beach Boys fan. He recently displayed his love for the '60s group by singing his favorite song, "Bomb Iran," at a recent campaign stop. No, I'm kidding! He was actually asked by a supporter how he would deal with the threat of Iran, and he nervously laughed and said, "You know that old Beach Boys song 'Bomb Iran?'" and proceeded to sing "Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran..." Now, inevitably, the clip is on YouTube, and in the YouTube era it could be a pretty damning document. AirCongress has more, including an odd statement from Arizona Rep. John Shadegg, who came to McCain's defense.

When mega-giant Yahoo! decides to play in the political sandbox, I’m going to pay attention. Yahoo! is currently ranked number one in http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_500 “>Alexa.org’s Top 500.

So when it was reported this week that Yahoo! had partnered with http://www.slate.com/ “>Slate, Huffington Post, and PBS’ Charlie Rose to host the first-ever online Presidential debate, as a conservative Republican, I immediately felt a curling in my stomach.

Read the full post and weigh in after the jump...

Tameka Kee with MediaPost asked an excellent question yesterday when we were emailing about her recent article on the Post’s online political coverage: what about the Yahoo/Huffington Post/Slate online debates: revolutionary, over-hyped, or just what we need?

Caroline Giuliani likes Barack Obama; Fred Thompson goes 2.0; Huffington Post exposes the money chase; vote-trading gets legalized; bloggers debate diversity issues; Mitt Romney defends his religion on YouTube; and Elizabeth Edwards explains that "We can't make John black, we can't make him a woman."

More news about the anti-Thompson site PhonyFred.org and its connection to the Romney campaign; the Huffington Post, Yahoo, and Slate team up to produce a "Mashup" presidential forum, though it might not allow for mashups after all; TechRepublican introduces a new policy series; Unity08 releases a study that suggests that Americans are fed up with the two-party system; Barack Obama is on LinkedIn; Fred Thompson needs to rename his FredCast section (any ideas?); and Hillary Clinton needs some widgets.

A new study indicates that text messaging can increase youth voter turnout; the Huffington Post/Yahoo/Slate mashup debate is rolling, and it turns out we can use Jumpcut to edit the footage after all, but we're somewhat disappointed with its format and execution; CBC radio produces a great piece featuring an interview with techPresident's Micah Sifry; and will Ron Paul be elected President of Web 2.0?

It's time to set the record straight on the history of online political debates, in the wake of press reports and claims that this week's Yahoo!/HuffingtonPost/Slate debate was the first.

Jose Antonio Vargas reviews Matt Bai's The Argument; according to CBS Evening News, the majority of Americans still get their political news from the newspaper; the Huffington Post/Slate/Yahoo "Mashup" debate was viewed by 1.1 million people, but how many actually participated?; a new website attempts to bring together all of the candidates' stands on issues but is missing important features; and more on William Beutler's critique of Googlebombing.

Barack Obama is the winner of the Huffington Post/Yahoo/Slate mashup debate; John Edwards will visit Columbus, KY, the winning town in his Eventful demands competition; Off The Bus introduces Roadkill, a guide to the goofy and wacky in the campaigns; Newt Gingrich posts on Mike Huckabee's blog, world explodes; Bill Richardson releases a new video featuring Matt Stoller and Chris Bowers, with a cool new site to boot; and Mike Huckabee hosts "Vertical Day," a 24-hour Q&A with supporters.

Obama goes on Huffington Post to address the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy.