The Web on the Candidates

• A good back-and-forth about the successes, failures, merits, and results of the CNN/YouTube debate is taking place over at Jeff Jarvis' Buzzmachine. In a long, (maybe too) complicated discussion, Jarvis reiterates his disappointment in the debate, thinking that "TV got in the way" of the authenticity promised by YouTube's participation. He goes head-to-head with BBC'er Kevin Marsh, who called the debate a "terrific clash... between two media cultures; old-style 'big journalism' and new-style 'citizen media.'" Marsh then calls Jarvis an "uber-zealot" who wants to "bring video-sharing into the democratic process." Jarvis responds, the gloves come off, Marsh shows up in the comments, and another commenter brings things things back to earth.
• A new site called Map the Candidates uses Google Maps and pulls in information from YouTube, online news sources, and candidate web sites to... map the candidates. You can view individuals candidates' paths across the country (well, across the early primary states) or look at all of the candidates' paths together, which can get cluttered pretty quickly. It's very similar to the Washington Post's Campaign Tracker, but could actually prove more useful. A good mashup.
• This past Monday, just before the CNN/YouTube debate, The Bivings Group's Steve Petersen wrote about having his video question selected for the debate and getting an invite from YouTube to attend the debate. Although Petersen was sure to note in his post that The Bivings Group is working for Fred Thompson, some (ok, Micah Sifry and I) raised questions about the appropriateness of choosing Petersen's video, given that he's working on a Republican presidential campaign. In the interest of transparency, Petersen has clarified the circumstances surrounding his invitation. "I recorded my question before [The Bivings Group] had the Thompson account, and YouTube had no idea of my employer or job before inviting me last Wednesday. Before the debate I did disclose my connection to Thompson to the Google staffers in charge of my trip. Further, I also disclosed this fact to journalists that interviewed me about my experiences in Charleston." His video wasn't shown at the debate anyway. A moot issue?

The Candidates on the Web

• NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has consistently said he isn't running for president, but last month he switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent and has been positioning himself as a national figure tired of the two-party Washington system. Yesterday, Election Geek noticed something that will add more fuel to the speculation fire: the URL www.mike2008.com redirects to his home page at www.mikebloomberg.com. Is he just eating up URLs or is something else in the works?
• Last month Howard Kurtz profiled Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens, two McCain media advisors with years of experience, including working for Bush '00. They're goal with McCain was to apply their time-tested TV ad strategy to a new world in which the Internet loomed large. Now they've quit. "The two men told friends they had considered leaving for days, as they hadn't been paid and the campaign's financial straits raised questions of when and how much they would be" and their resignations "followed a story in The Wall Street Journal Monday about Mr. Davis's business and lobbying activities," reports the Wall Street Journal's Jackie Calmes.
• This week's YouTube Spotlight features Mike Gravel, who will, like Chris Dodd and John Edwards did earlier this week, respond to questions that were submitted for the CNN/YouTube debate. He'll then produce another "art" film like his "Rock" and "Fire" films. I can't wait.

In Case You Missed It...

Patrick Ruffini is interested in examples of hybriding -- offline/online integration -- and Barack Obama's campaign is sending out bumper stickers that are a fine example.

What's up with Howard Dean suddenly asking Facebook users to be friends? Micah Sifry wants to know if Dean, or the person working for him, intends to extend "digital handshakes" to his Facebook friends, or is he just using the site to collect names and broadcast messages?

We've updated our social networking charts and they're prettier and more useful.

David All shot an interesting video of Joe Trippi predicting the GOP will have a hard time in 2008. Micah Sifry digs deeper.