The Web on the Candidates

• A few weeks ago we reported that John Edwards might have trouble receiving federal matching funds for the $4.3 million he raised using ActBlue, the online Democratic fundraising site. Now the Wall Street Journal’s T. W. Farnam reports that an FEC staff recommendation to deny Edwards the matching funds is being opposed by DailyKos. The FEC recommendation claims that the problem is that “the law only allows the government to match if a contribution check comes directly from an individual, not through another political committee,” Farnam writes. But ActBlue isn’t your mother’s PAC, and Markos Moulitsas argues that PACS like ActBlue “don’t do their own fundraising, but rather facilitate that of regular small dollar donors all over the country.” Other similar PACS — like the conservative Slatecard, RightRoots, and Big Red Tent — should pay close attention to the eventual ruling, which could come as soon as Friday.

• Last week the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray profiled a guy named Randy Brinson who just happens to have an email list of, ho hum, 71 million Christian voters, constructed using publicity around the 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ. Who is this guy? OpenLeft’s Chris Bowers found the revelation mind-blowing for three reasons. “First, the list has 414,000 contact in Iowa alone, which is stunning. Second, if it is still active enough to play a major role in swinging a presidential nomination contest, what was it doing for the previous three years? Third, all of this has been taking place so under the radar, that there isn’t even a wiki entry on Randy Brinson.” This is simply a massive number, and one wonders how the left might assemble something similar. “Maybe we can work on putting together an equivalent list for the left the next time a Woody Allen movie comes out,” reader Max Fletcher joked in the comments.

• He’s the one! Like Oprah before him, TechPresident’s friend Craig Newmark — the Craig in Craigslist — is coming out in support of Barack Obama. The Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas reports that Newmark co-hosted a pro-Obama Innovator’s Ball last night, which attracted the techno-elite of New York with the promise of seeing silicon stars like Newmark, Facebook co-founder and Obama staffer Chris Hughes, and Meetup.com co-founder and CEO Scott Heiferman. Maybe Craig should start his own talk show too. It would be a smash!

• Glamour magazine — my favorite political rag — has just launched a new blog called Glamocracy, featuring posts from “five young women from different points on the political spectrum.” The contributors include Rebecca Roberts, who just happens to be the daughter of Cokie Roberts, and Townhall’s Amanda Carpenter. The first post, from Roberts, tackles the enigma that is Elizabeth Kucinich.

• Barack Obama is sailing to new heights online as well as offline. Sometime yesterday, he gained his two-hundred-thousandth MySpace friend, far outpacing Hillary Clinton and Ron Paul. He still has the most Facebook supporters, but Ron Paul has him beat on YouTube.

The Candidates on the Web

• Chris Dodd was at Google yesterday (we linked to the livestream), and he used the occasion to admonish Google to not infringe on the public’s right to privacy. After listing the many wonderful services Google provides, all of which help it collect millions of peoples’ private data, and after reminding employees of AT&T’s participation in warrantless wiretapping, Dodd said that “one can only imagine how eager this Administration must be to get their hands on Google’s data.” It was a good speech, though we’d hoped Dodd would introduce his own tech policies. Instead, as Wired’s Sarah Lai Stirland points out, he’s leaving the policy stuff to Google. “It seemed entirely appropos — yet entirely unusual — that the presidential candidate would challenge and call on Google to provide policy solutions and ideas on how to protect user privacy in the modern world,” Stirland writes.

• It’s getting ugly. “Unlike ever before, candidates on both sides are utilizing bloggers and surrogates to spread their message,” writes Townhall’s Matt Lewis. “While campaigns use the new media to spread their positive message, the medium is perhaps even better at advancing a negative narrative.” Lewis cites Mitt Romney as an example. Rob Wasinger, a former aide to Sam Brownback, told Lewis that Mitt Romney is conducting a “scorched-earth strategy,” and that his campaign is going full-tilt after Mike Huckabee. (Lewis reminds us that the Brownback and Romney campaigns have never liked each other.) Remember when blogs meant conversation and community, rather than scorching the earth? Those were the days. (via Beltway Blogroll)

In Case You Missed It…

Yesterday, the New York Times Editorial board reminded the candidates about the 10Questions project and asked again for their participation. Stay tuned — we should have John Edwards’ answers soon.