The Daily Digest, 2/3/07

The Web on the Candidates

• TPMCafe's Election Central has video highlights from six possible Democratic presidential hopefuls from the Democratic National Committee's Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C. Among the official, exploring, or rumored candidates: Senators Christopher Dodd (CT), Hillary Clinton (NY), Barack Obama (IL), John Edwards (NC), Congressman Dennis Kucinich (OH) and retired General Wes Clark (AR). ABC's Political Punch has more, including a podcast from the DNC meeting.
• Obama (D-IL) drew over "3,000 mostly sign-waving students" in Virginia, notes New York Times political blogger, Sarah Wheaton. The event was sponsored by the George Mason University chapter of Students for Barack Obama, a national, student-based grassroots organization. The group used Facebook, a social networking favorite among college students, to handle RSVPs for the February 2 appearance. More from the Associated Press here.
• Chris Bowers of MyDD is conducting a series of reader surveys with preliminary results posted this morning.
• In 2008, do not expect to see clips from MTV's "Choose or Lose" campaign on YouTube. MTV Networks parent-company, Viacom, failed to reach an agreement and demanded the video-host to take down all MTV and BET clips. (Hat tip: Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo)
• Matt Browner Hamlin says "enough" with the media's insistence on anointing Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) as the "new maverick" and "a rebel." Hagel's record, MBH contends at the Huffington Post, says otherwise.
• The new "blogmaster" for the Edwards campaign, Amanda Marcotte, received fire from several bloggers over comments she posted in regards to the Duke lacrosse-rape case in North Carolina. She later deleted the post stating that D.A. Mike Nifong "fumbled the ball" in an effort to "make a name for himself" with critics demanding her resignation. Her Pandagon remarks caught up with her in the comments of her initial Edwards blog post. More at DailyKos and the TalkLeft forums.

The Candidates on the Web

• The campaign website for Clinton (D-NY) showcases her remarks at the Democratic National Committee's Winter Meeting with the headline: "Making History." Her remarks on Iraq made the national news as she said she would not have attacked Iraq in 2002 and vowed to end the war if elected president. (Ezra Klein says that Clinton is faulting the intelligence rather than herself in a post at the American Prospect blog, TAPPED.)
• Melissa McEwan, known for her writing at Shakesphere's Sister under the same name, recently joined the Edwards (D-NC) campaign as netroots coordinator. Read her post at the Edwards blog here.
• Check out pictures from the DNC meeting at Dodd's (D-CT) campaign blog. Read the "netroots" take on Dodd and Edwards, courtesy of the candidates' campaigns.
• The redirect to the Flickr page for Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) does not work. (OK, lame thing to focus on, but aside from the news updates it is the only feature that has changed since the launch.)
• Read excerpts of former Governor Mitt Romney's (R-MA) speech at the Conservative Members Retreat here. Apparently it went better than his "unfocused" speech at the National Review Institute's "State of the Conservatism" Summit.
• Yawn: Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), Kucinich (D-OH), former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Senator John McCain (R-AZ), former Governor Tom Vilsack (D-IA)
• How long is "soon"? Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX)
• What's he waiting for? Former Governor James Gilmore (R-VA)