techPresident – Daily Digest: 3/5/07

Daily Digest: 3/5/07
By Joshua Levy, 03/05/2007 - 11:25am

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The Web on the Candidates

James Kotecki has been offering the presidential candidates free advice about using online video but he's disappointed in the one-way conversations most of them are conducting (read: they won't respond to him). John Edwards and Newt Gingrich wrote text responses to his videos analyzing their online campaigns; Joe Biden's campaign subscribed to Kotecki's videos. No other candidate has yet responded.
Jeff Jarvis responds to an article in the Politico by techPresident's Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej in which they compare the presidential candidates' use of video to the online videos of British MP David Cameron webcameron, in which the head of the Conservative party posts disarming and off-the-cuff videos that take place in his kitchen, on work trips, or anywhere else he happens to be. Compared to Cameron, Jarvis calls John McCain's videos "overproduced" and "overlong"; "Obama is spending too much time showing himself in front of big crowds and too little time just talking to us... Hillary is more casual but not candid. Yet they are all reveling in their ablity to make their own soundbites instead of being subject to the clipping whims of some network TV news editor."
TechPresident's Nancy Scola gives a recap of Saturday night's panel discussion in New York titled "Campaigning, Blogging, and Fighting Back," featuring Amanda Marcotte, Scott Shields, Ari Melber, and others. Scola was surprised that the panel didn't dwell on Marcotte's experience with the Edwards campaign but instead "it was a facinating and, um, really mature and rich discussion on all things blogging and politics."

The Candidates on the Web

Mitt Romney sat down for an interview wit the Politico at CPAC and discussed his love for the (conservate) blogosphere: "...the blogs are open – there’s a discourse, there’s back and forth and it allows us to get to the truth. And that’s why the blogs are playing such an important role, particularly in grassroots organization of American politics."
In response to Ann Coulter's use of a gay slur to describe John Edwards at CPAC last week, Elizabeth Edwards wrote a post on her blog asking readers to "Find a way -- whether it is contribution here that sends a message to Miss Coulter and those who applauded her (which, of course, I prefer) or whether it is a statement on this blog or others or all of the above -- but please find a way not to sit silent in acceptance. It doesn't change until we say we will not be silent when this happens." The comments thread is very, very long.
No videos: Bill Richardson's site has remained more or less stagnant over the last few weeks. The front page features a Flash slideshow that rotates images of Richardson paired with text highlighting his recent endeavors. Today I noticed a new item, called "First Trip to Iowa" that was accompanied by a pic of Richardson sitting at a table with some folks with laptops. I clicked on the "Read More" link below the text and assumed I would see video of the trip -- not because it said I would, but because I'm getting used to candidates posting videos of their trips or their speeches. Instead, I was taken to a short article from the Des Moines Register about Richardson's trip to Iowa. There weren't even more pictures to look at, there were no videos in sight. I discovered that the Richardson blog has two pics of him speaking at a house party, but that's it - no photo slideshows or albums, no videos, no feeds, no comment threads... My lasting impression of Richardson's site is that it's undynamic and lacking in the basic features that gives us insight into a candidate.