As an anti-telecom immunity group takes the top slot on MyBarackObama.com, we ask if we're about to witness a case of 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss;' road trip! College Republicans hit the trail, driving cross-country without laying down tire tracks in Democratic districts; a congressional candidates XML-inspired t-shirt inspires a flurry of fundraising; and much, much more.

Attracting its 13,453rd member at about 11 EST tonight, a group dedicated to protesting Barack Obama's stand on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act became the largest group on MyBarackObama.com, the campaign's own social-networking site. The campaign is reportedly set to issue some sort of a response tomorrow morning.

Do millennials need to start strengthening their collective action muscles?; the anti-telecom immunity group on MyBarackObama.com is on track to be the social-networking site's top group later this week; Wesley Clark makes use of his Facebook status line to stand his ground on comments regarding John McCain's national security chops; is Newt Gingrich's Drill Here, Drill Now group poised to become the conservative equivalent of Move On?; and much, much more.

A group on MyBarackObama.com urging the senator to vote against surveillance bill that includes retroactive telecom immunity breaks into the top five groups on the campaign's own social-networking site; Obama supporters are changing their middle names to "Hussein" -- at least on Facebook and in their email handles; C-SPAN posts video from selected sessions of PdF '08; and much, much more.

While one high-profile blogger argues that the time has past for advocates and activists to shape the trajectory of their preferred general election candidates, others disagree and are self-organizing to show it; a consultant on the right argues that conservatives need to start thinking about the Internet as both play and work; and much, much more.

As Barack Obama's support for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that includes telecom immunity causes, in the words of one blogger, "a shift in the zeitgeist online," can his online fundraising hold up?; John McCain unveils The Lexington Project, a focused push on energy independence; we round-up some additional coverage of PdF '08; and much, much more.

Here's the clip of Andrew Rasiej interviewing Elizabeth Edwards at home via Skype video Monday at PdF2008, when John Edwards happens to drop in. They discuss the impact of the Internet on politics 2008. Edwards says it's the only reason Barack Obama isn't taking public financing," noting that it's given him a huge fundraising advantage "over Bush"--a slip quickly corrected by Elizabeth, who you can hear chortling in the background. Andrew tells John that the "internet community really loves your wife," to which he responds, "I know, so do I!" And then Elizabeth comes back on to say goodbye, noting, "PdF is enormously important in building this community--thinking about how we can use it [the net] is enormously important."

Nothing against Barack Obama, but we’d be mistaken to consider his politics a complete break from the past, a renaissance in participatory government, or the realization of an Internet-enabled “open source” democracy. He’s pretty damn good, don’t get me wrong, and he may just represent the closest thing yet to a GenX, post-boomer, anti-sentimental and a-mythic candidate for president. But there are a few ways in which his candidacy also reinforces some of the branded, celebrity-based, and charismatic techniques of traditional politics. To make the most of his candidacy and, hopefully, his presidency, we’ll have to distinguish one from the other.

A few weeks back, I wrote a long post asking whether Obama's networked movement was going to do more than just work to elect him president. Well, it looks like the battle to hold him accountable to his promises has already begun, over his support for the FISA bill, and especially over a provision giving the telecom companies retroactive immunity for breaking the law when they gave the Bush Administration access to Americans phone records without judicial authorization.

We're pleased to announce a first for the Internet Election of 2008: Starting tonight, a designated representative of both of the major presidential campaigns are going to participate in a free-wheeling debate on technology and government, moderated by Time magazine blogger Ana Marie Cox and channeled via Twitter.

The McCain campaign will be represented by Liz Mair, the online communications director of the Republican National Committee. The Obama campaign will be represented by Mike Nelson, a professor at Georgetown University who served in the Clinton White House under Vice President Gore on tech policy issues.

The debate is an initiative of Personal Democracy Forum and is being launched in tandem with next week's annual PdF conference, which is taking place Monday and Tuesday at Rose Hall in NYC.