We're going to try something new here at techPresident; every Friday we're going to post our semi-subjective, semi-scientific list of the best new political videos of the week. We're focusing on voter-generated content, though when a campaign puts something out that is unavoidable or genuinely interesting, we'll include it too. For this week's winners, read past the jump...

Potential problems with journalists using Facebook; Ron Paul is excluded from an online straw poll; Mitt Romney invites supporters to create a campaign TV ad with a new online mashup tool; former Yahoo director of election strategy Cyrus Krohn on his new job as the RNC's eCampaign director; Chris Dodd updates his website to reflect his firefighter endorsement; and Elizabeth Edwards gets criticized by a mommy in the blogosphere.

The Web on the Candidates

It's good to be back! The, er, south Pacific (or was that the north Atlantic?) was splendid.

The Ames Straw Poll results are in, and Mitt Romney has won handily, with 31% of the vote.  The big story, though, is Mike Huckabee's surprising second-place finish, which came despite a relative lack of money and resources. Meanwhile, Sam Brownback finished a disappointing third, just a couple of points ahead of Tom "Let's bomb their holy sites" Tancredo, and six points ahead of Ron Paul, who finished fifth, proving that his fanatical online support has yet to move offline.

An in-depth look at the online warfare preceding the Ames Straw Poll tomorrow, including the return of mini-Mitt, the ultimate test for Ron Paul's online movement, and digital dirty tricks. Plus, an exclusive look at Barack Obama's new interactive video banner ads, and Fred Thompson courts the "safe online transactions" vote.

The Web on the Candidates

There are 10 months until the first primaries, so you wouldn't think there'd be enough material for best-of political video lists... yet there already is. Todd Zeigler at the Bivings Report pulled together the "Top Political YouTube Videos so far [this] Cycle," and even if you're familiar with most of videos it's fun a jog down short-term memory lane. Zeigler includes favorite hits (and cringe-worthy moments) like John McCain's, "bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran," Hillary Clinton's use of a Southern acccent, Karl Rove rapping, John Edwards getting his hair done, Congressman Obey arguing with his anti-war constituents and, of course, Phil de Vellis' 1984 "Vote Different" video. The only video that I hadn't seen before was the Obey video, in which a woman whose Iraq vet son can't get proper medical coverage confronts the Congressman about the war supplemental bill and finds him frustrated and combative. It's a long, sad video.

Jerome Armstrong rounds up the Democratic candidates' outreach efforts toward the netroots, and finds that, surprisingly, "there's nothing happening in the way of outreach to Democratic-leaning blogs on Barack Obama's website that I can see. Nothing." Equally surprising is that Bill Richardson is the only candidate with a blogroll; even John Edwards, who Armstrong says has the most active community of any of the sites, with users regularly reaching out and linking to other blogs, lacks one. I'd like to hear a deeper discussion of why Obama has decided to keep his system so closed; he's raising money and generating community on the site, so he's doing something right. But Armstrong finds "his non-existent online outreach strategy very pre-2003, and you are free to defend it. Just don't mimic the latest about how Obama is the new Reagan, because the latter knew how to work with his base."

The Web on the Candidates

Which candidate has the strongest stance on universal health care? Is it 53-year-old John Edwards? Or 59-year-old Hillary Clinton? How about 10-year-old Susie Flynn? Flynn is running for president on one platform, getting health insurance for the nine million uninsured children in America. While this might seem like a cutesy ploy, Susie (and her handlers) are actually quite serious -- in one video she argues that, for the amount we spend every three and half months in Iraq, every child in the U.S. could be insured. She even takes her campaign to Capitol Hill. When will another candidate adopt her platform?

The Web on the Candidates

Yesterday, we linked to a post from Giuliani advisor Patrick Ruffini in which he disagreed with people who think the Democrats own the Internet.  TechPresident's Mike Turk engages Ruffini in a long response to the post, questioning assumptions about media attention paid to Democrats and Republicans, word of mouth marketing, campaign organization, and more.  It's a detailed and thoughtful discussion -- check it out. 

MyDD has a new straw poll out, and not only is John Edwards in first place, almost 10 points ahead of Barack Obama, but Hillary Clinton is fifth place, almost 40 points behind Edwards and over point behind "Other."  Given that MyDD's readers are overwhelmingly liberal and critical of Clinton, the results aren't that surprising, but will this extreme unpopularity with the base affect her standing with the general public?