The Web on the Candidates

• Kevin Dooley, who runs Wonkosphere, the site that tracks online political buzz, sees Mike Huckabee getting a lot of negative attention on the web these days. “Huck hit 45% in both conservative and liberal Wonkosphere today. We also note that the buzz was overwhelming[ly] negative, or as we say in the trade, ‘way negative,’” he writes. The indefatigable Sarah Lai Stirland thinks that the negative attention is largely due to news reports about Huck’s role in supporting the parole of a convicted rapist. On the web, does the old adage that any publicity is good publicity still hold true?

• An article at on CBS News describes how candidates are using web services to appeal to the “often unreachable” 18-25-year-old demographic. But while that’s true, they miss out on the fact that a large percentage of Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube users are older than 25; they’re also being reached by the campaigns, and are reaching the campaigns themselves, in unprecedented ways.

The Candidates on the Web

• Mashable’s Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins regrets getting the “bright idea” to review the candidates’ use of social media because, as we know all too well, there’s a ton of data to pore through. After giving it a shot, he essentially gives all of the candidates a failing grade. He writes that “Of all the candidates, about two or three actually seemed to get how social media was supposed to work,” but offers very few examples about how the candidates are doing it wrong. While it’s true that no candidate is utilizing social media like they could, Hopkins fails to look closely enough at the campaigns; he doesn’t even mention Mike Huckabee’s blogger outreach, the lively blog community on John Edwards
  ’ site, Chris Dodd’s use of UStream.tv and Twitter, mistakenly says that Rudy Giuliani hasn’t used any social media… the list goes on. Hey Mark, stop by techPresident some time! We don’t bite!

• In fact, just yesterday the Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas described the ways that Rudy Giuliani has been building up his web presence, including the “Running with Rudy” video series and Team Rudy, his new online social networking site. “Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella said nearly 1,000 profiles were created in the first four days the site was up and running,” Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella told Vargas.

• It must be something in the Web 2.0 air. Tech blogger and geek lord Robert Scoble also takes a stab at reviewing the candidates’ use of the web, offering Fast Company readers one- or two-sentence descriptions of the kinds of social technologies being used by the candidates. But it’s a surprisingly thin rundown, barely scraping the surface of what’s happening online. Maybe Fast Company’s readers are to busy flipping businesses to pay closer attention.

In Case You Missed It…

Here it is kids, our favorite videos of the week! Take the jump to see a new video from the vicious SwiftKids for Truth, Mike Gravel talking to himself, a hilarious poke at Silicon Valley, and — my favorite — a mashup of Bollywood and Barack. You won’t be disappointed.

David All argues that the YouTube commercial Fred Thompson produced for the Republican CNN/YouTube debate was one of the largest missed opportunities of the campaign. After all, 4.5 million viewers were tuned in and paying attention. But it failed to make any real impact because Fred had no starring role.