The Web on the Candidates

• The Media Bloggers Association has announced that PBS will be giving bloggers press credentials for next week's Democratic Presidential Forum hosted by Tavis Smiley at Howard University. Although the forum is not a debate, it will feature all eight Democratic candidates, who will answer questions from a panel of journalists. Viewers at home are being encouraged to participate in online forums but it's still unclear exactly how they'll be incorporated into the debate.
• In his announcement of the new citizen journalism project OffTheBus, Jay Rosen wrote that "realistically," due to the Democratic backgrounds and physical location of Rosen, Arianna Huffington, Zack Exley, and Amanda Michel, "this is going to be seen as a project originating on the 'blue' side of red-blue politics." TechPresident blogger Patrick Ruffini, writing on his personal blog, finds the project similar to others that have a nonpartisan goal and asks, "are conservatives just perennially late to the party here? Or are the social circles in which the Rosens and Huffingtons run dictating personnel decisions about cool projects and thus perceptions of who is up and down online?" Rosen responded by saying that he never "imported or purported anything about 'bipartisanship'" but the goal is to make the platform open to all. It seems clear that the creators of the project need to reach out to Republican voters and influentials as much as possible in order to ensure balance with the project.
• In his Washington Post column, Jeff Jarvis rounds up his favorite voter-submitted questions for candidates in the upcoming CNN/YouTube debate. His favorite question: Someone named Eddy wants to know how the candidates will prevent ethnic cleansing in Iraq in the aftermath of a U.S. pullout. Other questions about the FCC and free speech, gay rights, illegal immigration, and global warming made the cut. Meanwhile, BoingBoing links to a blog called 10 Zen Monkeys that lists the five worst submissions (though they're wrong about there only being 50 submissions; as of this writing there are 141).
• Perhaps responding to concerns that the CNN/YouTube debate leaves out those who aren't online, YouTube Politics and News editor Steve Grove posted a new video asking participants to reach out to offline voters. "If you know someone who does not the have the tools they would need to upload a question to Youutbe, please get out a camera and go ask what they would like to ask the candidates." It's a good gesture that acknowledges the unfortunate fact the online access isn't nearly universal.
• Bloggers have been posting away in response to Michael Bloomberg's announcement that he's leaving the Republican party. Check out this Technorati chart: Bloomberg is the most talked wild-card candidate in the blogosphere, even beating out Fred Thompson.
  
  There's more blogosphere fun here.

The Candidates on the Web

• This week's YouTube Spotlight candidate is Sam Brownback, who's happily riding the "yellow-brick road to the White House" on his touring bus, with cornfields blazing in the background. He gives us a good rundown of his background and positions, from his childhood in Kansas to his marriage to his "strongly pro-life" and "whole-life" message to his stance on Iraq. Ok, good. So do you have any questions for us, Senator Brownback? "Those are some of my ideas..." he says, and then he asks for us to send him our ideas and he'll respond to them. It's bit of a vague request, kind of like if I asked him, "what do you think about politics?"
• Despite his video announcing a contest on Eventful, John Edwards has received only a modest uptick in Eventful demands.

In Case You Missed It...

After a blogger was refused entrance to an Obama supporter event in NH, questions are being raised, yet again, about the role of bloggers. Are they citizens, journalists, or somewhere in between?

Patrick Ruffini agrees with Zack Exley's "Don'y Hire an Internet Person" call to arms and says, "I am not a web guy."

Phillip de Vellis responds to the news that the RNC has hired Yahoo! exec Cyrus Krohn as their eCampaign Director by stressing that candidates need to move beyond TV to daily online communication with voters.