Friday, the Obama campaign released a new ad mocking John McCain for being so "out of touch" with current realities that "he admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail." It seems as though a meme that started gaining traction back in June at the Personal Democracy Forum plenary, where Edwards blogger Tracy Russo lambasted McCain deputy internet director Mark Soohoo for defending McCain's admitted internet illiteracy, has now been embraced by Obama directly as a way to raise doubts about his rival's fitness for the White House.

Unfortunately, the language of the ad oversimplifies the issue (though it's hardly as big a distortion of the truth as McCain's recent attack ads). In fairness, McCain has not only admitted that he is tech-illiterate; in July he told the New York Times that "I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don't expect to be a great communicator, I don't expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need." Better late than never, right?

Yesterday, things got a bit heated on the plenary session with the presidential campaign internet staffers. Mark Soohoo, the deputy internet director of the John McCain, was defending his boss for not personally understanding how to use a computer. Tracy Russo, Soohoo's counterpart on the John Edwards campaign (where she was deputy director of online communication), took issue with Soohoo, and then the fireworks started. Video after the jump...

With the top 50 political blogs getting 95% of the traffic, has a Blogosphere Establishment formed? Does the word blogger suffice to describe people who may be practicing journalism, activism or campaigning for a candidate, sometimes all at once, sometimes not? Should top bloggers practice a kind of affirmative action in who they link to or highlight? Six top political bloggers tackle these questions and others...

Representatives of the internet teams from the Dodd, Edwards, Obama and Richardson campaigns are presenting their approaches to a standing-room only crowd in a workshop at YearlyKos. Here's a live blog semi-transcript.