www.infotoday.com/searcher November/December 2007 19 by Laura Gordon-Murnane Information Consultant Unlike previous campaigns, the Internet has become the essential tool for all political candidates to announce their campaigns, release new campaign ads, answer ques- tions posted by voters, post videos and photos, and raise awareness, as well as lots and lots of money. Using the Internet, candidates can attract and connect with younger voters who spend most (if not all) their time on the Inter- net. The Net is where the younger generation of voters hangs out, gets their news, and shares ideas with friends, family, colleagues, and classmates (via blogs, video-shar- ing, photo-sharing, and social networking sites). Tech-savvy candidates are offering Web sites, blogs, “create your own campaign” blog tools, and “be my friend” with links to Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr. Even so, a recent study by iCrossing has found that even with candidates’ attention to these social networking sites The presidential election of 2008 will be the first presidential “Internet election,” an historical phenomenon in which the Internet and its technologies are playing integral roles for candidates and their campaigns, the mainstream media, and voters and citizens. ▼ CLICK HERE for 'LiveLinks'
21
Embed
CLICK HERE for 'LiveLinks' - Information TodayThe 51st State: The State of Online and tools, most citizens/voters looking for information about candidates do not go to a candidate’s
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 19
by Laura Gordon-MurnaneInformation Consultant
Unlike previous campaigns the Internet has becomethe essential tool for all political candidates to announcetheir campaigns release new campaign ads answer ques-tions posted by voters post videos and photos and raiseawareness as well as lots and lots of money Using theInternet candidates can attract and connect with youngervoters who spend most (if not all) their time on the Inter-net The Net is where the younger generation of votershangs out gets their news and shares ideas with friendsfamily colleagues and classmates (via blogs video-shar-ing photo-sharing and social networking sites)
Tech-savvy candidates are offering Web sites blogsldquocreate your own campaignrdquo blog tools and ldquobe my friendrdquowith links to Facebook MySpace YouTube and FlickrEven so a recent study by iCrossing has found that evenwith candidatesrsquo attention to these social networking sites
The presidential election of 2008 will be
the first presidential ldquoInternet electionrdquo
an historical phenomenon in which the
Internet and its technologies are playing
integral roles for candidates and their
campaigns the mainstream media and
voters and citizens
CLICK HERE for LiveLinks
20 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
and tools most citizensvoters looking for informationabout candidates do not go to a candidatersquos Web site orMySpace page Instead they seek information about can-didate voting records position statements etc by goingto both Web search engines and the online versions of tra-ditional media mdash NYtimescom CNNcom and the Wash-ingtonpostcom1 The tech tools are available but howwell the candidates use them and whether the savvy waystheir campaigns introduce them into grass-roots outreachand fundraising operations will benefit them remains oneof the open questions of this current election cycle
The Internet is also revolutionizing and reshaping theinfluence mainstream media has mdash or doesnrsquot have mdash onpresidential elections Newspapers news magazinesradio and the major television networks used to be theway citizens and voters learned about candidates theissues and the solutions the candidates offered I think itis safe to say that those days if not over are numberedThe Internet has opened up other avenues of news com-mentary discussion and discourse The growing numberof options for learning finding and sharing news andinformation about candidates has dramatically alteredpublic dependence on the mainstream press In July 2007iCrossing released a report entitled ldquoHow AmericaSearches Election rsquo08rdquo that found new media optionsmore important than ever to the upcoming presidentialelection The report stated that the Internet has ldquoemergedas the number-two channel after television among poten-tial voters looking for election-related information and istied with newspapersrdquo2 The survey revealed that ldquoforty-two percent of voters look to the Internet for informationabout issues and candidates in the upcoming presidentialelection with the Internet a considerably more popularinformation source than newspapers among respondentsbetween the ages of 18 and 34rdquo Indeed more than half ofyounger online voters are turning to social media for elec-tion information 61 percent of 18 to 24 year olds and 55percent of 25 to 34 year olds seek answers on user-drivencontent sites such as blogs YouTube and Wikipedia3 Tra-ditional news media organizations need to use the Inter-net and Web 20 tools to reach younger voters as well asto hold on to older voters
Technology is forcing mainstream media to sit up andpay attention CNN jumped in by holding the firstCNNndashYouTube Democratic Debate on July 24 2007 inwhich the entire field of Democratic candidates faced videoquestions submitted from voters and citizens rather thanjournalists Slatecom (owned by the Washington Post)Yahoo and The Huffington Post (HuffingtonPostcom)hosted the first ever online-only presidential candidatemashup on Sept 12 2007 All Democratic candidatesagreed to participate in this event in which anyone couldsend questions via email podcast or video to The Huffin-gton Post with moderator Charlie Rose asking the candi-
Presidential Online ForumsSept 17 2007The Huffington Post Yahoo and Slatecom host first online-only presidential mashup
Nov 28 2007CNN and YouTube host Republican candidatesrsquo forum in Florida
Dec 7 2007Online National Presidential Caucus [httpwwwnationalcaucuscom]
Presidential CandidatesREPUBLICAN CANDIDATES(Declared as of August 2007)
Sam BrownbackRudy GiulianiMike HuckabeeDuncan HunterJohn McCainRon PaulMitt RomneyTom TancredoFred Thompson (Declared September 2007)
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES(Declared as of August 2007)
Joseph BidenHillary ClintonChristopher DoddJohn EdwardsMike GravelDennis KucinichBarack ObamaBill Richardson
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 21
The 51st State The State of Online
dates questions from those submitted Responses will bevideoed and coded and then released to the public to makemashups of the candidates responses4 CNNndashYouTube hasalso convinced Republican candidates to participate intheir own version on Nov 28 2007 with The HuffingtonPost also working with Republican candidates to host apresidential online mashup too
While candidates use technology to raise money andinteract with voters mainstream media sites use it todeliver political news to a diverse and growing audiencethat often turns to alternative sources for political newsThe interplay between the candidates the mainstreampress citizensvoters and the Internet is making for a veryexciting dramatic real-time ldquoin your facerdquo presidentialcampaign Tracking presidential candidates campaignand election news fundraising news political strategiesdebates primaries successes and missteps mdash this is hap-pening more and more online
So what tools can you mdash the political junkie the tech-nology geek the concerned citizen mdash use to find outabout the current crop of presidential candidates totrack them to monitor political news campaign eventsdebates and the money pouring into campaign coffersTo help monitor the campaign we have put together acollection of tools and resources that can assist thoseinterested in learning more about the 2008 presidentialcampaign We begin with the candidates and how theyuse technology tools to present themselves to the votingpublic raise funds and hold campaign events and meet-ings (See Table 1 beginning on page 22) Next we lookat mainstream media online sites and how these sitescover and monitor the presidential campaign and itscandidates What tools are being used to bring newsblogs candidate videos user-generated videos picturesand other information about the candidates to the inter-ested and uninterested voting public Third we look ata select group of blogs that provides timely news com-mentary reports and debate on the candidates and thecampaigns Donrsquot have the time to wade through all theblogs and news sites Aggregator tools can help you findthe news you want We include a list of the really usefulaggregator tools that cover both mainstream press andmajor political blogs All of these tools mdash blogs videoaudio social networking sites etc mdash can help you inves-tigate candidates major issues and the solutions candi-dates offer to solve problems
As of August 2007 there were eight officially declaredRepublican candidates and at least one undeclared can-didate Though Fred Thompson had not officially declaredhimself a Republican candidate he had launched a ldquotest-ing the watersrdquo candidacy built largely around his Website (As we went to press Thompson had finally declaredin early September during an appearance on The TonightShow with Jay Leno) The Democrats had eight officially
declared candidates Unlike 4 years ago all the politicalcampaigns have embraced the use of technology to reachout to the public Today every candidate has a Web siteCompared to 4 years ago the online tools available to raisefunds reach out to the grass-roots and provide a voiceand channel of communication between candidates andvoters have improved dramatically At the YearlyKos Con-vention in Chicago the Democratic candidates were askedif they would appoint a White House blogger if elected allsaid yes5 The question let alone the response would havebeen unthinkable 4 years ago The Internet and the blo-gosphere together have energized the political debate
All the campaigns have Web sites and can take dona-tions up to the maximum of $2300 What tools and fea-tures are provided at these Web sites We have looked at thedifferent features and tools the candidates offer to support-ers volunteers and interested citizens First not all candi-dates have a blog On the Democratic side DennisKucinich and Mike Gravel were without blog (WOB) onthe Republican side Rudy Giuliani and Duncan Hunterwere also WOB Campaign blogs are authored by campaignstaffers and for the most part allow comments from thosewho register with the campaign By allowing commentsthe campaigns create an important dialogue between cam-paign staff individual bloggers and a broader communityof bloggers Opening the blogs to comments promotesdirect communication In another interesting develop-ment some campaigns allow supporters to create theirown blog space on the candidatersquos site John McCain offersthis feature on his site McCainSpace Hillary ClintonBarack Obama John Edwards Bill Richardson and Den-nis Kucinich also offer this tool Those who feel passion-ately about their politics have a direct line of communica-tion with the campaign
Social networking tools have been embraced by mostif not all candidates in one form or another The only can-didate not using social networking tools is Giuliani Linksto the major social networking sites (MySpace FacebookYouTube Meetup and Flickr) are all prominently dis-played on the main pages of candidate sites In the reportldquoElection 2008 Candidate Web Sites Propaganda orNewsrdquo the authors found that ldquosocial networking siteslikes MySpace (the most popular) Facebook YouTubeMeetup and Flickr facilitate interaction among peoplewho have something in common mdash in this case interestin a particular candidate Users who register on one ofthese sites can then lsquomeet and networkrsquo with any other reg-istered user including the presidential candidatesrdquo6 JohnEdwardsrsquos campaign site wins the award for the mostsocial networks mdash 23 I am not sure if this helps or hurtshim Social networking sites have to be kept fresh with newcontent (pictures videos and information about the can-didate and the campaign) Failure to do so sends a
(Text continued on page 36)
22 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
CANDIDATE WEB SITES AND FEATURES(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Joseph Biden Hillary ClintonWeb Site httpwwwjoebidencomhome httpwwwhillaryclintoncomsplash=1
Blog httpblogjoebidencom Blog posts by Erin Medlicott not candidate
httpwwwhillaryclintoncomblog Blog posts by several people Also hasa section called ldquoFeatured Postsrdquo
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your ownblog)
No Yes Requires registration (name address email)httpconnecthillaryclintoncommyjspatype=user-blog
Enables citizen-generated forums No YesldquoJoinStart a Grouprdquo httpconnecthillaryclintoncomclubcategoryjspacategoryID=300000001
Calendar Public schedule Had not been updated since July 22 2007
ldquoFind an Eventrdquo mdash Search for an upcoming event by ZIP codehttpwwwhillaryclintoncomactioncentereventsc=3Also has a section on ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo with lists for specific days
Where is the candidate See above Yes
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Yes Yes ldquoPlan an Eventrdquo
Fundraising events Yes Yes HillRaiser Fundraising email set goals to raise money
Internships for undergraduate college students Yes No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Yes Meetup All
Voter registration No Yes httpwwwgovoteorg
News About the Campaign Yes Yes News available on campaign site Separate news site calledHillHubcom [httpwwwhillaryhubcom] includes In the News On the Blogs Latest Videos
News alerts Requires email address and ZIP code Yes front page of campaign site
Spanish Translation No Yes httpwwwhillaryclintoncomes
Table 1
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 23
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Christopher Dodd John EdwardsWeb Site httpwwwchrisdoddcomhome httpjohnedwardscom
Blog httpwwwchrisdoddcomblog httpblogjohnedwardscomVideo Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomvideoblogPhoto Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomphotoblogAudio Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomaudioblog This has two sections Podium has posts from the campaign staff and Open Mic hasposts from supporters
Allows comments No Videos embedded in blog posts which are postedby Matt Browner-Hamlin
Yes Start your own Diary allows comments and submitting content to the blog
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No Yes Rather than calling it a blog the Edwards Campaign calls it ldquoDiariesrdquo FeaturedDiaries are from John Elizabeth and Cate Edwards ldquoRecommended Diariesrdquo are fromsupporters ldquoRecent Diariesrdquo appear to be older entries posted to individual diaries
Enables citizen-generated forums No See above
Calendar Yes Actual calendar httpwwwchrisdoddcomevents ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo [httpjohnedwardscomevents] has contact information onhow to attend event
Where is the candidate Has RSS feed for events Can also add the calendar toyour own iCalendar (looks like a little widget)
Lists where Edwards and his wife will be
Fundraising Tools Yes Form letter allows voters to craft their own message incontacting friends family and colleagues
Yes Create your own fundraising page Requires email address and ZIP code
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No direct way to do this Not specifically mentioned but there are many ways to volunteer with this campaignfrom the traditional to the more technological
Store Dodd Mart [httpdoddmartcom] Official Edwards Store httpofficialedwardsstorecom
Grass-Roots Tools Yes ldquoJoin the Dodd Squadrdquo Yes Many ways to volunteer
Blog for candidate No Yes
Fundraising events Yes Yes Grass-roots fundraising mdash create your own page
Internships for undergraduate collegestudents
Yes Yes Bottom of home page has a link to Internshipshttpjohnedwardscomassetsdownloadssummer_internshipsThere is also a section ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo[httpjohnedwardscomyafe] for teenagers to get involved in the campaign
Meetup door-to-door canvassingphone calls letter writing community events
Yes Can set up a personal donation page for emailingto friends family colleagues
Yes See ldquoTake Actionrdquo httpjohnedwardscomaction
Voter registration No The link is buried under ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo [httpwwwdeclareyourselfcom]
News About the Campaign Yes Click on ldquoMediardquo Yes The site has news and blog posts on the front pageHeadlines httpjohnedwardscomnewsheadlines Press Releases httpjohnedwardscomnewspress-releases
Social Networking Sites Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscomactionnetworking Edwards has a bunch (see below)Not sure if he is really able to use all of these to greatest advantage
Multimedia Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscommedia mdash audio video podcasts photos
Audio No Yes httpjohnedwardscommediaaudio
Video Yes DTV httpwwwchrisdoddcomdtv Yes httpjohnedwardscommediavideo
Photos No Scattered photos around site have to go to Flickr tosee photos
Yes httpjohnedwardscomphotos
Spanish Translation No There is a link to a single page of Spanish text but that is about it httpjohnedwardscomespanol
24 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Gravel Dennis KucinichWeb Site httpwwwgravel2008us httpwwwdennis4presidentcom
Archived site httpwww2kucinichus
Blog No No as of July 30 2007 but Web site being updated
Allows comments Yes section called Forums where supporters can post to theforum Requires registration
No
Enables citizen-generated blog (startyour own blog)
No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomblogmain Registrationrequired
Enables citizen-generated forums Yes Can submit new topics to the forumhttpwwwgravel2008usforum
Forum section [httpactiondennis4presidentcomforum] has beenset up for supporters Can also browse members and check profilesand interests
Calendar No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomeventmainAllows supporters to add an event to the schedule Old site also has a calendar httpwww2kucinichusschedule
Where is the candidate No Yes The schedule lists the campaign events Kucinich will participate in
Others Act Blue httpssecureactbluecomentityfundraisers12513MeetUp httpdemocratmeetupcom1056Google Groups httpgroupsgooglecomgroupgravel2008hl=enVirb httpwwwvirbcommikegravel08 DFA Link httpwwwdfalinkcomgroupphpid=2246Second Life httpgovirtualforgravelwordpresscom20070529want-to-pay-us-a-visit-how-to-visit-sen-gravel-in-second-life
No
Multimedia Yes Yes
Audio No Links to House of Representative floor speeches
Video Yes Yes YouTube
Photos No Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 25
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Barack Obama Bill RichardsonWeb Site httpwwwbarackobamacom httprichardsonforpresidentcomhome
Blog Yes httpwwwbarackobamacomblogAll blogs on site searchable including CommunityHeadquarters blog
Headquarters Blog httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompagecommunitygroupHeadquarters
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
httpmybarackobamacompageuserloginsuccessurl=L3BhZ2UvZGFzaGJvYXJkL3ByaXZhdGU= Set up MyBarakObamacom Many tools available
Yes Requires registration Has an Action Center but it does not lookas if you can set up your blog on the site
Enables citizen-generated forums See above Start a Group This allows you to set up a group and a blog for posting
Calendar Yes Find an Event httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompageeventsearch_simple
Where is the candidate Yes No calendar of candidatersquos schedule but can use ldquoFind an Eventrdquo tosee where the candidate and other events appear in your area
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Volunteering opportunities available Yes as well as other volunteering opportunities
26 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Sam Brownback Rudy GiulianiWeb Site httpwwwbrownbackcomsHometabid127Defaultaspx httpwwwjoinrudy2008comindexphp
Blog httpwwwbrownbackercom No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No No Provides widgets to be used on your own blog (createdelsewhere)
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No specific calendar but there is a section called ldquoOn the Roadrdquo thatprovides information on where the campaign is traveling Also underthe blog there is an events button where you can find out moreabout the candidatersquos schedule httpbrownbackercompage_id=4
No
Where is the candidate See above No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No Multiple ways to volunteer time
Store Yes httpwwwzazzlecomBrownback08 Yes httpwwwrudy2008storecom
Grass-Roots Tools Minimal Yes
Blog for candidate No Widget tools for your own blog
Fundraising events No Yes
Internships for undergraduate college students No No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Join ldquoTeam Brownbackrdquo Identify the coalitions you wish to belongto
ldquoJoin the Causerdquo
Voter registration No No
News About the Campaign Yes In the News On the Blogs On the Issues Featured No
RSS feeds Only available on the blog httpbrownbackercomfeed=rss2 Yes Multiple RSS feeds available
Podcasts No No
Social Networking Sites Yes No
Facebook httpfranciscanfacebookcompersonphpid=2643600222 No
Flickr No No
MySpace httpwwwmyspacecomsambrownback No
YouTube httpwwwyoutubecomprofileuser=Brownback4President No
OthersMultimedia Yes Yes
Audio No No
Video Yes httpwwwbrownbackcomsNewsRoomVideotabid120Defaultaspx
Yes httpwwwjoinrudy2008comvideos
Photos Scattered throughout site Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 27
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
20 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
and tools most citizensvoters looking for informationabout candidates do not go to a candidatersquos Web site orMySpace page Instead they seek information about can-didate voting records position statements etc by goingto both Web search engines and the online versions of tra-ditional media mdash NYtimescom CNNcom and the Wash-ingtonpostcom1 The tech tools are available but howwell the candidates use them and whether the savvy waystheir campaigns introduce them into grass-roots outreachand fundraising operations will benefit them remains oneof the open questions of this current election cycle
The Internet is also revolutionizing and reshaping theinfluence mainstream media has mdash or doesnrsquot have mdash onpresidential elections Newspapers news magazinesradio and the major television networks used to be theway citizens and voters learned about candidates theissues and the solutions the candidates offered I think itis safe to say that those days if not over are numberedThe Internet has opened up other avenues of news com-mentary discussion and discourse The growing numberof options for learning finding and sharing news andinformation about candidates has dramatically alteredpublic dependence on the mainstream press In July 2007iCrossing released a report entitled ldquoHow AmericaSearches Election rsquo08rdquo that found new media optionsmore important than ever to the upcoming presidentialelection The report stated that the Internet has ldquoemergedas the number-two channel after television among poten-tial voters looking for election-related information and istied with newspapersrdquo2 The survey revealed that ldquoforty-two percent of voters look to the Internet for informationabout issues and candidates in the upcoming presidentialelection with the Internet a considerably more popularinformation source than newspapers among respondentsbetween the ages of 18 and 34rdquo Indeed more than half ofyounger online voters are turning to social media for elec-tion information 61 percent of 18 to 24 year olds and 55percent of 25 to 34 year olds seek answers on user-drivencontent sites such as blogs YouTube and Wikipedia3 Tra-ditional news media organizations need to use the Inter-net and Web 20 tools to reach younger voters as well asto hold on to older voters
Technology is forcing mainstream media to sit up andpay attention CNN jumped in by holding the firstCNNndashYouTube Democratic Debate on July 24 2007 inwhich the entire field of Democratic candidates faced videoquestions submitted from voters and citizens rather thanjournalists Slatecom (owned by the Washington Post)Yahoo and The Huffington Post (HuffingtonPostcom)hosted the first ever online-only presidential candidatemashup on Sept 12 2007 All Democratic candidatesagreed to participate in this event in which anyone couldsend questions via email podcast or video to The Huffin-gton Post with moderator Charlie Rose asking the candi-
Presidential Online ForumsSept 17 2007The Huffington Post Yahoo and Slatecom host first online-only presidential mashup
Nov 28 2007CNN and YouTube host Republican candidatesrsquo forum in Florida
Dec 7 2007Online National Presidential Caucus [httpwwwnationalcaucuscom]
Presidential CandidatesREPUBLICAN CANDIDATES(Declared as of August 2007)
Sam BrownbackRudy GiulianiMike HuckabeeDuncan HunterJohn McCainRon PaulMitt RomneyTom TancredoFred Thompson (Declared September 2007)
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES(Declared as of August 2007)
Joseph BidenHillary ClintonChristopher DoddJohn EdwardsMike GravelDennis KucinichBarack ObamaBill Richardson
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 21
The 51st State The State of Online
dates questions from those submitted Responses will bevideoed and coded and then released to the public to makemashups of the candidates responses4 CNNndashYouTube hasalso convinced Republican candidates to participate intheir own version on Nov 28 2007 with The HuffingtonPost also working with Republican candidates to host apresidential online mashup too
While candidates use technology to raise money andinteract with voters mainstream media sites use it todeliver political news to a diverse and growing audiencethat often turns to alternative sources for political newsThe interplay between the candidates the mainstreampress citizensvoters and the Internet is making for a veryexciting dramatic real-time ldquoin your facerdquo presidentialcampaign Tracking presidential candidates campaignand election news fundraising news political strategiesdebates primaries successes and missteps mdash this is hap-pening more and more online
So what tools can you mdash the political junkie the tech-nology geek the concerned citizen mdash use to find outabout the current crop of presidential candidates totrack them to monitor political news campaign eventsdebates and the money pouring into campaign coffersTo help monitor the campaign we have put together acollection of tools and resources that can assist thoseinterested in learning more about the 2008 presidentialcampaign We begin with the candidates and how theyuse technology tools to present themselves to the votingpublic raise funds and hold campaign events and meet-ings (See Table 1 beginning on page 22) Next we lookat mainstream media online sites and how these sitescover and monitor the presidential campaign and itscandidates What tools are being used to bring newsblogs candidate videos user-generated videos picturesand other information about the candidates to the inter-ested and uninterested voting public Third we look ata select group of blogs that provides timely news com-mentary reports and debate on the candidates and thecampaigns Donrsquot have the time to wade through all theblogs and news sites Aggregator tools can help you findthe news you want We include a list of the really usefulaggregator tools that cover both mainstream press andmajor political blogs All of these tools mdash blogs videoaudio social networking sites etc mdash can help you inves-tigate candidates major issues and the solutions candi-dates offer to solve problems
As of August 2007 there were eight officially declaredRepublican candidates and at least one undeclared can-didate Though Fred Thompson had not officially declaredhimself a Republican candidate he had launched a ldquotest-ing the watersrdquo candidacy built largely around his Website (As we went to press Thompson had finally declaredin early September during an appearance on The TonightShow with Jay Leno) The Democrats had eight officially
declared candidates Unlike 4 years ago all the politicalcampaigns have embraced the use of technology to reachout to the public Today every candidate has a Web siteCompared to 4 years ago the online tools available to raisefunds reach out to the grass-roots and provide a voiceand channel of communication between candidates andvoters have improved dramatically At the YearlyKos Con-vention in Chicago the Democratic candidates were askedif they would appoint a White House blogger if elected allsaid yes5 The question let alone the response would havebeen unthinkable 4 years ago The Internet and the blo-gosphere together have energized the political debate
All the campaigns have Web sites and can take dona-tions up to the maximum of $2300 What tools and fea-tures are provided at these Web sites We have looked at thedifferent features and tools the candidates offer to support-ers volunteers and interested citizens First not all candi-dates have a blog On the Democratic side DennisKucinich and Mike Gravel were without blog (WOB) onthe Republican side Rudy Giuliani and Duncan Hunterwere also WOB Campaign blogs are authored by campaignstaffers and for the most part allow comments from thosewho register with the campaign By allowing commentsthe campaigns create an important dialogue between cam-paign staff individual bloggers and a broader communityof bloggers Opening the blogs to comments promotesdirect communication In another interesting develop-ment some campaigns allow supporters to create theirown blog space on the candidatersquos site John McCain offersthis feature on his site McCainSpace Hillary ClintonBarack Obama John Edwards Bill Richardson and Den-nis Kucinich also offer this tool Those who feel passion-ately about their politics have a direct line of communica-tion with the campaign
Social networking tools have been embraced by mostif not all candidates in one form or another The only can-didate not using social networking tools is Giuliani Linksto the major social networking sites (MySpace FacebookYouTube Meetup and Flickr) are all prominently dis-played on the main pages of candidate sites In the reportldquoElection 2008 Candidate Web Sites Propaganda orNewsrdquo the authors found that ldquosocial networking siteslikes MySpace (the most popular) Facebook YouTubeMeetup and Flickr facilitate interaction among peoplewho have something in common mdash in this case interestin a particular candidate Users who register on one ofthese sites can then lsquomeet and networkrsquo with any other reg-istered user including the presidential candidatesrdquo6 JohnEdwardsrsquos campaign site wins the award for the mostsocial networks mdash 23 I am not sure if this helps or hurtshim Social networking sites have to be kept fresh with newcontent (pictures videos and information about the can-didate and the campaign) Failure to do so sends a
(Text continued on page 36)
22 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
CANDIDATE WEB SITES AND FEATURES(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Joseph Biden Hillary ClintonWeb Site httpwwwjoebidencomhome httpwwwhillaryclintoncomsplash=1
Blog httpblogjoebidencom Blog posts by Erin Medlicott not candidate
httpwwwhillaryclintoncomblog Blog posts by several people Also hasa section called ldquoFeatured Postsrdquo
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your ownblog)
No Yes Requires registration (name address email)httpconnecthillaryclintoncommyjspatype=user-blog
Enables citizen-generated forums No YesldquoJoinStart a Grouprdquo httpconnecthillaryclintoncomclubcategoryjspacategoryID=300000001
Calendar Public schedule Had not been updated since July 22 2007
ldquoFind an Eventrdquo mdash Search for an upcoming event by ZIP codehttpwwwhillaryclintoncomactioncentereventsc=3Also has a section on ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo with lists for specific days
Where is the candidate See above Yes
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Yes Yes ldquoPlan an Eventrdquo
Fundraising events Yes Yes HillRaiser Fundraising email set goals to raise money
Internships for undergraduate college students Yes No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Yes Meetup All
Voter registration No Yes httpwwwgovoteorg
News About the Campaign Yes Yes News available on campaign site Separate news site calledHillHubcom [httpwwwhillaryhubcom] includes In the News On the Blogs Latest Videos
News alerts Requires email address and ZIP code Yes front page of campaign site
Spanish Translation No Yes httpwwwhillaryclintoncomes
Table 1
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 23
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Christopher Dodd John EdwardsWeb Site httpwwwchrisdoddcomhome httpjohnedwardscom
Blog httpwwwchrisdoddcomblog httpblogjohnedwardscomVideo Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomvideoblogPhoto Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomphotoblogAudio Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomaudioblog This has two sections Podium has posts from the campaign staff and Open Mic hasposts from supporters
Allows comments No Videos embedded in blog posts which are postedby Matt Browner-Hamlin
Yes Start your own Diary allows comments and submitting content to the blog
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No Yes Rather than calling it a blog the Edwards Campaign calls it ldquoDiariesrdquo FeaturedDiaries are from John Elizabeth and Cate Edwards ldquoRecommended Diariesrdquo are fromsupporters ldquoRecent Diariesrdquo appear to be older entries posted to individual diaries
Enables citizen-generated forums No See above
Calendar Yes Actual calendar httpwwwchrisdoddcomevents ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo [httpjohnedwardscomevents] has contact information onhow to attend event
Where is the candidate Has RSS feed for events Can also add the calendar toyour own iCalendar (looks like a little widget)
Lists where Edwards and his wife will be
Fundraising Tools Yes Form letter allows voters to craft their own message incontacting friends family and colleagues
Yes Create your own fundraising page Requires email address and ZIP code
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No direct way to do this Not specifically mentioned but there are many ways to volunteer with this campaignfrom the traditional to the more technological
Store Dodd Mart [httpdoddmartcom] Official Edwards Store httpofficialedwardsstorecom
Grass-Roots Tools Yes ldquoJoin the Dodd Squadrdquo Yes Many ways to volunteer
Blog for candidate No Yes
Fundraising events Yes Yes Grass-roots fundraising mdash create your own page
Internships for undergraduate collegestudents
Yes Yes Bottom of home page has a link to Internshipshttpjohnedwardscomassetsdownloadssummer_internshipsThere is also a section ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo[httpjohnedwardscomyafe] for teenagers to get involved in the campaign
Meetup door-to-door canvassingphone calls letter writing community events
Yes Can set up a personal donation page for emailingto friends family colleagues
Yes See ldquoTake Actionrdquo httpjohnedwardscomaction
Voter registration No The link is buried under ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo [httpwwwdeclareyourselfcom]
News About the Campaign Yes Click on ldquoMediardquo Yes The site has news and blog posts on the front pageHeadlines httpjohnedwardscomnewsheadlines Press Releases httpjohnedwardscomnewspress-releases
Social Networking Sites Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscomactionnetworking Edwards has a bunch (see below)Not sure if he is really able to use all of these to greatest advantage
Multimedia Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscommedia mdash audio video podcasts photos
Audio No Yes httpjohnedwardscommediaaudio
Video Yes DTV httpwwwchrisdoddcomdtv Yes httpjohnedwardscommediavideo
Photos No Scattered photos around site have to go to Flickr tosee photos
Yes httpjohnedwardscomphotos
Spanish Translation No There is a link to a single page of Spanish text but that is about it httpjohnedwardscomespanol
24 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Gravel Dennis KucinichWeb Site httpwwwgravel2008us httpwwwdennis4presidentcom
Archived site httpwww2kucinichus
Blog No No as of July 30 2007 but Web site being updated
Allows comments Yes section called Forums where supporters can post to theforum Requires registration
No
Enables citizen-generated blog (startyour own blog)
No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomblogmain Registrationrequired
Enables citizen-generated forums Yes Can submit new topics to the forumhttpwwwgravel2008usforum
Forum section [httpactiondennis4presidentcomforum] has beenset up for supporters Can also browse members and check profilesand interests
Calendar No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomeventmainAllows supporters to add an event to the schedule Old site also has a calendar httpwww2kucinichusschedule
Where is the candidate No Yes The schedule lists the campaign events Kucinich will participate in
Others Act Blue httpssecureactbluecomentityfundraisers12513MeetUp httpdemocratmeetupcom1056Google Groups httpgroupsgooglecomgroupgravel2008hl=enVirb httpwwwvirbcommikegravel08 DFA Link httpwwwdfalinkcomgroupphpid=2246Second Life httpgovirtualforgravelwordpresscom20070529want-to-pay-us-a-visit-how-to-visit-sen-gravel-in-second-life
No
Multimedia Yes Yes
Audio No Links to House of Representative floor speeches
Video Yes Yes YouTube
Photos No Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 25
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Barack Obama Bill RichardsonWeb Site httpwwwbarackobamacom httprichardsonforpresidentcomhome
Blog Yes httpwwwbarackobamacomblogAll blogs on site searchable including CommunityHeadquarters blog
Headquarters Blog httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompagecommunitygroupHeadquarters
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
httpmybarackobamacompageuserloginsuccessurl=L3BhZ2UvZGFzaGJvYXJkL3ByaXZhdGU= Set up MyBarakObamacom Many tools available
Yes Requires registration Has an Action Center but it does not lookas if you can set up your blog on the site
Enables citizen-generated forums See above Start a Group This allows you to set up a group and a blog for posting
Calendar Yes Find an Event httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompageeventsearch_simple
Where is the candidate Yes No calendar of candidatersquos schedule but can use ldquoFind an Eventrdquo tosee where the candidate and other events appear in your area
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Volunteering opportunities available Yes as well as other volunteering opportunities
26 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Sam Brownback Rudy GiulianiWeb Site httpwwwbrownbackcomsHometabid127Defaultaspx httpwwwjoinrudy2008comindexphp
Blog httpwwwbrownbackercom No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No No Provides widgets to be used on your own blog (createdelsewhere)
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No specific calendar but there is a section called ldquoOn the Roadrdquo thatprovides information on where the campaign is traveling Also underthe blog there is an events button where you can find out moreabout the candidatersquos schedule httpbrownbackercompage_id=4
No
Where is the candidate See above No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No Multiple ways to volunteer time
Store Yes httpwwwzazzlecomBrownback08 Yes httpwwwrudy2008storecom
Grass-Roots Tools Minimal Yes
Blog for candidate No Widget tools for your own blog
Fundraising events No Yes
Internships for undergraduate college students No No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Join ldquoTeam Brownbackrdquo Identify the coalitions you wish to belongto
ldquoJoin the Causerdquo
Voter registration No No
News About the Campaign Yes In the News On the Blogs On the Issues Featured No
RSS feeds Only available on the blog httpbrownbackercomfeed=rss2 Yes Multiple RSS feeds available
Podcasts No No
Social Networking Sites Yes No
Facebook httpfranciscanfacebookcompersonphpid=2643600222 No
Flickr No No
MySpace httpwwwmyspacecomsambrownback No
YouTube httpwwwyoutubecomprofileuser=Brownback4President No
OthersMultimedia Yes Yes
Audio No No
Video Yes httpwwwbrownbackcomsNewsRoomVideotabid120Defaultaspx
Yes httpwwwjoinrudy2008comvideos
Photos Scattered throughout site Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 27
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
dates questions from those submitted Responses will bevideoed and coded and then released to the public to makemashups of the candidates responses4 CNNndashYouTube hasalso convinced Republican candidates to participate intheir own version on Nov 28 2007 with The HuffingtonPost also working with Republican candidates to host apresidential online mashup too
While candidates use technology to raise money andinteract with voters mainstream media sites use it todeliver political news to a diverse and growing audiencethat often turns to alternative sources for political newsThe interplay between the candidates the mainstreampress citizensvoters and the Internet is making for a veryexciting dramatic real-time ldquoin your facerdquo presidentialcampaign Tracking presidential candidates campaignand election news fundraising news political strategiesdebates primaries successes and missteps mdash this is hap-pening more and more online
So what tools can you mdash the political junkie the tech-nology geek the concerned citizen mdash use to find outabout the current crop of presidential candidates totrack them to monitor political news campaign eventsdebates and the money pouring into campaign coffersTo help monitor the campaign we have put together acollection of tools and resources that can assist thoseinterested in learning more about the 2008 presidentialcampaign We begin with the candidates and how theyuse technology tools to present themselves to the votingpublic raise funds and hold campaign events and meet-ings (See Table 1 beginning on page 22) Next we lookat mainstream media online sites and how these sitescover and monitor the presidential campaign and itscandidates What tools are being used to bring newsblogs candidate videos user-generated videos picturesand other information about the candidates to the inter-ested and uninterested voting public Third we look ata select group of blogs that provides timely news com-mentary reports and debate on the candidates and thecampaigns Donrsquot have the time to wade through all theblogs and news sites Aggregator tools can help you findthe news you want We include a list of the really usefulaggregator tools that cover both mainstream press andmajor political blogs All of these tools mdash blogs videoaudio social networking sites etc mdash can help you inves-tigate candidates major issues and the solutions candi-dates offer to solve problems
As of August 2007 there were eight officially declaredRepublican candidates and at least one undeclared can-didate Though Fred Thompson had not officially declaredhimself a Republican candidate he had launched a ldquotest-ing the watersrdquo candidacy built largely around his Website (As we went to press Thompson had finally declaredin early September during an appearance on The TonightShow with Jay Leno) The Democrats had eight officially
declared candidates Unlike 4 years ago all the politicalcampaigns have embraced the use of technology to reachout to the public Today every candidate has a Web siteCompared to 4 years ago the online tools available to raisefunds reach out to the grass-roots and provide a voiceand channel of communication between candidates andvoters have improved dramatically At the YearlyKos Con-vention in Chicago the Democratic candidates were askedif they would appoint a White House blogger if elected allsaid yes5 The question let alone the response would havebeen unthinkable 4 years ago The Internet and the blo-gosphere together have energized the political debate
All the campaigns have Web sites and can take dona-tions up to the maximum of $2300 What tools and fea-tures are provided at these Web sites We have looked at thedifferent features and tools the candidates offer to support-ers volunteers and interested citizens First not all candi-dates have a blog On the Democratic side DennisKucinich and Mike Gravel were without blog (WOB) onthe Republican side Rudy Giuliani and Duncan Hunterwere also WOB Campaign blogs are authored by campaignstaffers and for the most part allow comments from thosewho register with the campaign By allowing commentsthe campaigns create an important dialogue between cam-paign staff individual bloggers and a broader communityof bloggers Opening the blogs to comments promotesdirect communication In another interesting develop-ment some campaigns allow supporters to create theirown blog space on the candidatersquos site John McCain offersthis feature on his site McCainSpace Hillary ClintonBarack Obama John Edwards Bill Richardson and Den-nis Kucinich also offer this tool Those who feel passion-ately about their politics have a direct line of communica-tion with the campaign
Social networking tools have been embraced by mostif not all candidates in one form or another The only can-didate not using social networking tools is Giuliani Linksto the major social networking sites (MySpace FacebookYouTube Meetup and Flickr) are all prominently dis-played on the main pages of candidate sites In the reportldquoElection 2008 Candidate Web Sites Propaganda orNewsrdquo the authors found that ldquosocial networking siteslikes MySpace (the most popular) Facebook YouTubeMeetup and Flickr facilitate interaction among peoplewho have something in common mdash in this case interestin a particular candidate Users who register on one ofthese sites can then lsquomeet and networkrsquo with any other reg-istered user including the presidential candidatesrdquo6 JohnEdwardsrsquos campaign site wins the award for the mostsocial networks mdash 23 I am not sure if this helps or hurtshim Social networking sites have to be kept fresh with newcontent (pictures videos and information about the can-didate and the campaign) Failure to do so sends a
(Text continued on page 36)
22 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
CANDIDATE WEB SITES AND FEATURES(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Joseph Biden Hillary ClintonWeb Site httpwwwjoebidencomhome httpwwwhillaryclintoncomsplash=1
Blog httpblogjoebidencom Blog posts by Erin Medlicott not candidate
httpwwwhillaryclintoncomblog Blog posts by several people Also hasa section called ldquoFeatured Postsrdquo
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your ownblog)
No Yes Requires registration (name address email)httpconnecthillaryclintoncommyjspatype=user-blog
Enables citizen-generated forums No YesldquoJoinStart a Grouprdquo httpconnecthillaryclintoncomclubcategoryjspacategoryID=300000001
Calendar Public schedule Had not been updated since July 22 2007
ldquoFind an Eventrdquo mdash Search for an upcoming event by ZIP codehttpwwwhillaryclintoncomactioncentereventsc=3Also has a section on ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo with lists for specific days
Where is the candidate See above Yes
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Yes Yes ldquoPlan an Eventrdquo
Fundraising events Yes Yes HillRaiser Fundraising email set goals to raise money
Internships for undergraduate college students Yes No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Yes Meetup All
Voter registration No Yes httpwwwgovoteorg
News About the Campaign Yes Yes News available on campaign site Separate news site calledHillHubcom [httpwwwhillaryhubcom] includes In the News On the Blogs Latest Videos
News alerts Requires email address and ZIP code Yes front page of campaign site
Spanish Translation No Yes httpwwwhillaryclintoncomes
Table 1
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 23
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Christopher Dodd John EdwardsWeb Site httpwwwchrisdoddcomhome httpjohnedwardscom
Blog httpwwwchrisdoddcomblog httpblogjohnedwardscomVideo Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomvideoblogPhoto Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomphotoblogAudio Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomaudioblog This has two sections Podium has posts from the campaign staff and Open Mic hasposts from supporters
Allows comments No Videos embedded in blog posts which are postedby Matt Browner-Hamlin
Yes Start your own Diary allows comments and submitting content to the blog
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No Yes Rather than calling it a blog the Edwards Campaign calls it ldquoDiariesrdquo FeaturedDiaries are from John Elizabeth and Cate Edwards ldquoRecommended Diariesrdquo are fromsupporters ldquoRecent Diariesrdquo appear to be older entries posted to individual diaries
Enables citizen-generated forums No See above
Calendar Yes Actual calendar httpwwwchrisdoddcomevents ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo [httpjohnedwardscomevents] has contact information onhow to attend event
Where is the candidate Has RSS feed for events Can also add the calendar toyour own iCalendar (looks like a little widget)
Lists where Edwards and his wife will be
Fundraising Tools Yes Form letter allows voters to craft their own message incontacting friends family and colleagues
Yes Create your own fundraising page Requires email address and ZIP code
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No direct way to do this Not specifically mentioned but there are many ways to volunteer with this campaignfrom the traditional to the more technological
Store Dodd Mart [httpdoddmartcom] Official Edwards Store httpofficialedwardsstorecom
Grass-Roots Tools Yes ldquoJoin the Dodd Squadrdquo Yes Many ways to volunteer
Blog for candidate No Yes
Fundraising events Yes Yes Grass-roots fundraising mdash create your own page
Internships for undergraduate collegestudents
Yes Yes Bottom of home page has a link to Internshipshttpjohnedwardscomassetsdownloadssummer_internshipsThere is also a section ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo[httpjohnedwardscomyafe] for teenagers to get involved in the campaign
Meetup door-to-door canvassingphone calls letter writing community events
Yes Can set up a personal donation page for emailingto friends family colleagues
Yes See ldquoTake Actionrdquo httpjohnedwardscomaction
Voter registration No The link is buried under ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo [httpwwwdeclareyourselfcom]
News About the Campaign Yes Click on ldquoMediardquo Yes The site has news and blog posts on the front pageHeadlines httpjohnedwardscomnewsheadlines Press Releases httpjohnedwardscomnewspress-releases
Social Networking Sites Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscomactionnetworking Edwards has a bunch (see below)Not sure if he is really able to use all of these to greatest advantage
Multimedia Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscommedia mdash audio video podcasts photos
Audio No Yes httpjohnedwardscommediaaudio
Video Yes DTV httpwwwchrisdoddcomdtv Yes httpjohnedwardscommediavideo
Photos No Scattered photos around site have to go to Flickr tosee photos
Yes httpjohnedwardscomphotos
Spanish Translation No There is a link to a single page of Spanish text but that is about it httpjohnedwardscomespanol
24 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Gravel Dennis KucinichWeb Site httpwwwgravel2008us httpwwwdennis4presidentcom
Archived site httpwww2kucinichus
Blog No No as of July 30 2007 but Web site being updated
Allows comments Yes section called Forums where supporters can post to theforum Requires registration
No
Enables citizen-generated blog (startyour own blog)
No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomblogmain Registrationrequired
Enables citizen-generated forums Yes Can submit new topics to the forumhttpwwwgravel2008usforum
Forum section [httpactiondennis4presidentcomforum] has beenset up for supporters Can also browse members and check profilesand interests
Calendar No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomeventmainAllows supporters to add an event to the schedule Old site also has a calendar httpwww2kucinichusschedule
Where is the candidate No Yes The schedule lists the campaign events Kucinich will participate in
Others Act Blue httpssecureactbluecomentityfundraisers12513MeetUp httpdemocratmeetupcom1056Google Groups httpgroupsgooglecomgroupgravel2008hl=enVirb httpwwwvirbcommikegravel08 DFA Link httpwwwdfalinkcomgroupphpid=2246Second Life httpgovirtualforgravelwordpresscom20070529want-to-pay-us-a-visit-how-to-visit-sen-gravel-in-second-life
No
Multimedia Yes Yes
Audio No Links to House of Representative floor speeches
Video Yes Yes YouTube
Photos No Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 25
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Barack Obama Bill RichardsonWeb Site httpwwwbarackobamacom httprichardsonforpresidentcomhome
Blog Yes httpwwwbarackobamacomblogAll blogs on site searchable including CommunityHeadquarters blog
Headquarters Blog httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompagecommunitygroupHeadquarters
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
httpmybarackobamacompageuserloginsuccessurl=L3BhZ2UvZGFzaGJvYXJkL3ByaXZhdGU= Set up MyBarakObamacom Many tools available
Yes Requires registration Has an Action Center but it does not lookas if you can set up your blog on the site
Enables citizen-generated forums See above Start a Group This allows you to set up a group and a blog for posting
Calendar Yes Find an Event httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompageeventsearch_simple
Where is the candidate Yes No calendar of candidatersquos schedule but can use ldquoFind an Eventrdquo tosee where the candidate and other events appear in your area
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Volunteering opportunities available Yes as well as other volunteering opportunities
26 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Sam Brownback Rudy GiulianiWeb Site httpwwwbrownbackcomsHometabid127Defaultaspx httpwwwjoinrudy2008comindexphp
Blog httpwwwbrownbackercom No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No No Provides widgets to be used on your own blog (createdelsewhere)
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No specific calendar but there is a section called ldquoOn the Roadrdquo thatprovides information on where the campaign is traveling Also underthe blog there is an events button where you can find out moreabout the candidatersquos schedule httpbrownbackercompage_id=4
No
Where is the candidate See above No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No Multiple ways to volunteer time
Store Yes httpwwwzazzlecomBrownback08 Yes httpwwwrudy2008storecom
Grass-Roots Tools Minimal Yes
Blog for candidate No Widget tools for your own blog
Fundraising events No Yes
Internships for undergraduate college students No No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Join ldquoTeam Brownbackrdquo Identify the coalitions you wish to belongto
ldquoJoin the Causerdquo
Voter registration No No
News About the Campaign Yes In the News On the Blogs On the Issues Featured No
RSS feeds Only available on the blog httpbrownbackercomfeed=rss2 Yes Multiple RSS feeds available
Podcasts No No
Social Networking Sites Yes No
Facebook httpfranciscanfacebookcompersonphpid=2643600222 No
Flickr No No
MySpace httpwwwmyspacecomsambrownback No
YouTube httpwwwyoutubecomprofileuser=Brownback4President No
OthersMultimedia Yes Yes
Audio No No
Video Yes httpwwwbrownbackcomsNewsRoomVideotabid120Defaultaspx
Yes httpwwwjoinrudy2008comvideos
Photos Scattered throughout site Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 27
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
22 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
CANDIDATE WEB SITES AND FEATURES(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Joseph Biden Hillary ClintonWeb Site httpwwwjoebidencomhome httpwwwhillaryclintoncomsplash=1
Blog httpblogjoebidencom Blog posts by Erin Medlicott not candidate
httpwwwhillaryclintoncomblog Blog posts by several people Also hasa section called ldquoFeatured Postsrdquo
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your ownblog)
No Yes Requires registration (name address email)httpconnecthillaryclintoncommyjspatype=user-blog
Enables citizen-generated forums No YesldquoJoinStart a Grouprdquo httpconnecthillaryclintoncomclubcategoryjspacategoryID=300000001
Calendar Public schedule Had not been updated since July 22 2007
ldquoFind an Eventrdquo mdash Search for an upcoming event by ZIP codehttpwwwhillaryclintoncomactioncentereventsc=3Also has a section on ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo with lists for specific days
Where is the candidate See above Yes
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Yes Yes ldquoPlan an Eventrdquo
Fundraising events Yes Yes HillRaiser Fundraising email set goals to raise money
Internships for undergraduate college students Yes No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Yes Meetup All
Voter registration No Yes httpwwwgovoteorg
News About the Campaign Yes Yes News available on campaign site Separate news site calledHillHubcom [httpwwwhillaryhubcom] includes In the News On the Blogs Latest Videos
News alerts Requires email address and ZIP code Yes front page of campaign site
Spanish Translation No Yes httpwwwhillaryclintoncomes
Table 1
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 23
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Christopher Dodd John EdwardsWeb Site httpwwwchrisdoddcomhome httpjohnedwardscom
Blog httpwwwchrisdoddcomblog httpblogjohnedwardscomVideo Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomvideoblogPhoto Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomphotoblogAudio Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomaudioblog This has two sections Podium has posts from the campaign staff and Open Mic hasposts from supporters
Allows comments No Videos embedded in blog posts which are postedby Matt Browner-Hamlin
Yes Start your own Diary allows comments and submitting content to the blog
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No Yes Rather than calling it a blog the Edwards Campaign calls it ldquoDiariesrdquo FeaturedDiaries are from John Elizabeth and Cate Edwards ldquoRecommended Diariesrdquo are fromsupporters ldquoRecent Diariesrdquo appear to be older entries posted to individual diaries
Enables citizen-generated forums No See above
Calendar Yes Actual calendar httpwwwchrisdoddcomevents ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo [httpjohnedwardscomevents] has contact information onhow to attend event
Where is the candidate Has RSS feed for events Can also add the calendar toyour own iCalendar (looks like a little widget)
Lists where Edwards and his wife will be
Fundraising Tools Yes Form letter allows voters to craft their own message incontacting friends family and colleagues
Yes Create your own fundraising page Requires email address and ZIP code
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No direct way to do this Not specifically mentioned but there are many ways to volunteer with this campaignfrom the traditional to the more technological
Store Dodd Mart [httpdoddmartcom] Official Edwards Store httpofficialedwardsstorecom
Grass-Roots Tools Yes ldquoJoin the Dodd Squadrdquo Yes Many ways to volunteer
Blog for candidate No Yes
Fundraising events Yes Yes Grass-roots fundraising mdash create your own page
Internships for undergraduate collegestudents
Yes Yes Bottom of home page has a link to Internshipshttpjohnedwardscomassetsdownloadssummer_internshipsThere is also a section ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo[httpjohnedwardscomyafe] for teenagers to get involved in the campaign
Meetup door-to-door canvassingphone calls letter writing community events
Yes Can set up a personal donation page for emailingto friends family colleagues
Yes See ldquoTake Actionrdquo httpjohnedwardscomaction
Voter registration No The link is buried under ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo [httpwwwdeclareyourselfcom]
News About the Campaign Yes Click on ldquoMediardquo Yes The site has news and blog posts on the front pageHeadlines httpjohnedwardscomnewsheadlines Press Releases httpjohnedwardscomnewspress-releases
Social Networking Sites Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscomactionnetworking Edwards has a bunch (see below)Not sure if he is really able to use all of these to greatest advantage
Multimedia Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscommedia mdash audio video podcasts photos
Audio No Yes httpjohnedwardscommediaaudio
Video Yes DTV httpwwwchrisdoddcomdtv Yes httpjohnedwardscommediavideo
Photos No Scattered photos around site have to go to Flickr tosee photos
Yes httpjohnedwardscomphotos
Spanish Translation No There is a link to a single page of Spanish text but that is about it httpjohnedwardscomespanol
24 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Gravel Dennis KucinichWeb Site httpwwwgravel2008us httpwwwdennis4presidentcom
Archived site httpwww2kucinichus
Blog No No as of July 30 2007 but Web site being updated
Allows comments Yes section called Forums where supporters can post to theforum Requires registration
No
Enables citizen-generated blog (startyour own blog)
No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomblogmain Registrationrequired
Enables citizen-generated forums Yes Can submit new topics to the forumhttpwwwgravel2008usforum
Forum section [httpactiondennis4presidentcomforum] has beenset up for supporters Can also browse members and check profilesand interests
Calendar No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomeventmainAllows supporters to add an event to the schedule Old site also has a calendar httpwww2kucinichusschedule
Where is the candidate No Yes The schedule lists the campaign events Kucinich will participate in
Others Act Blue httpssecureactbluecomentityfundraisers12513MeetUp httpdemocratmeetupcom1056Google Groups httpgroupsgooglecomgroupgravel2008hl=enVirb httpwwwvirbcommikegravel08 DFA Link httpwwwdfalinkcomgroupphpid=2246Second Life httpgovirtualforgravelwordpresscom20070529want-to-pay-us-a-visit-how-to-visit-sen-gravel-in-second-life
No
Multimedia Yes Yes
Audio No Links to House of Representative floor speeches
Video Yes Yes YouTube
Photos No Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 25
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Barack Obama Bill RichardsonWeb Site httpwwwbarackobamacom httprichardsonforpresidentcomhome
Blog Yes httpwwwbarackobamacomblogAll blogs on site searchable including CommunityHeadquarters blog
Headquarters Blog httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompagecommunitygroupHeadquarters
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
httpmybarackobamacompageuserloginsuccessurl=L3BhZ2UvZGFzaGJvYXJkL3ByaXZhdGU= Set up MyBarakObamacom Many tools available
Yes Requires registration Has an Action Center but it does not lookas if you can set up your blog on the site
Enables citizen-generated forums See above Start a Group This allows you to set up a group and a blog for posting
Calendar Yes Find an Event httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompageeventsearch_simple
Where is the candidate Yes No calendar of candidatersquos schedule but can use ldquoFind an Eventrdquo tosee where the candidate and other events appear in your area
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Volunteering opportunities available Yes as well as other volunteering opportunities
26 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Sam Brownback Rudy GiulianiWeb Site httpwwwbrownbackcomsHometabid127Defaultaspx httpwwwjoinrudy2008comindexphp
Blog httpwwwbrownbackercom No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No No Provides widgets to be used on your own blog (createdelsewhere)
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No specific calendar but there is a section called ldquoOn the Roadrdquo thatprovides information on where the campaign is traveling Also underthe blog there is an events button where you can find out moreabout the candidatersquos schedule httpbrownbackercompage_id=4
No
Where is the candidate See above No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No Multiple ways to volunteer time
Store Yes httpwwwzazzlecomBrownback08 Yes httpwwwrudy2008storecom
Grass-Roots Tools Minimal Yes
Blog for candidate No Widget tools for your own blog
Fundraising events No Yes
Internships for undergraduate college students No No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Join ldquoTeam Brownbackrdquo Identify the coalitions you wish to belongto
ldquoJoin the Causerdquo
Voter registration No No
News About the Campaign Yes In the News On the Blogs On the Issues Featured No
RSS feeds Only available on the blog httpbrownbackercomfeed=rss2 Yes Multiple RSS feeds available
Podcasts No No
Social Networking Sites Yes No
Facebook httpfranciscanfacebookcompersonphpid=2643600222 No
Flickr No No
MySpace httpwwwmyspacecomsambrownback No
YouTube httpwwwyoutubecomprofileuser=Brownback4President No
OthersMultimedia Yes Yes
Audio No No
Video Yes httpwwwbrownbackcomsNewsRoomVideotabid120Defaultaspx
Yes httpwwwjoinrudy2008comvideos
Photos Scattered throughout site Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 27
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Candidate Christopher Dodd John EdwardsWeb Site httpwwwchrisdoddcomhome httpjohnedwardscom
Blog httpwwwchrisdoddcomblog httpblogjohnedwardscomVideo Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomvideoblogPhoto Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomphotoblogAudio Blog httpblogjohnedwardscomaudioblog This has two sections Podium has posts from the campaign staff and Open Mic hasposts from supporters
Allows comments No Videos embedded in blog posts which are postedby Matt Browner-Hamlin
Yes Start your own Diary allows comments and submitting content to the blog
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No Yes Rather than calling it a blog the Edwards Campaign calls it ldquoDiariesrdquo FeaturedDiaries are from John Elizabeth and Cate Edwards ldquoRecommended Diariesrdquo are fromsupporters ldquoRecent Diariesrdquo appear to be older entries posted to individual diaries
Enables citizen-generated forums No See above
Calendar Yes Actual calendar httpwwwchrisdoddcomevents ldquoUpcoming Eventsrdquo [httpjohnedwardscomevents] has contact information onhow to attend event
Where is the candidate Has RSS feed for events Can also add the calendar toyour own iCalendar (looks like a little widget)
Lists where Edwards and his wife will be
Fundraising Tools Yes Form letter allows voters to craft their own message incontacting friends family and colleagues
Yes Create your own fundraising page Requires email address and ZIP code
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No direct way to do this Not specifically mentioned but there are many ways to volunteer with this campaignfrom the traditional to the more technological
Store Dodd Mart [httpdoddmartcom] Official Edwards Store httpofficialedwardsstorecom
Grass-Roots Tools Yes ldquoJoin the Dodd Squadrdquo Yes Many ways to volunteer
Blog for candidate No Yes
Fundraising events Yes Yes Grass-roots fundraising mdash create your own page
Internships for undergraduate collegestudents
Yes Yes Bottom of home page has a link to Internshipshttpjohnedwardscomassetsdownloadssummer_internshipsThere is also a section ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo[httpjohnedwardscomyafe] for teenagers to get involved in the campaign
Meetup door-to-door canvassingphone calls letter writing community events
Yes Can set up a personal donation page for emailingto friends family colleagues
Yes See ldquoTake Actionrdquo httpjohnedwardscomaction
Voter registration No The link is buried under ldquoYoung Americans for Edwardsrdquo [httpwwwdeclareyourselfcom]
News About the Campaign Yes Click on ldquoMediardquo Yes The site has news and blog posts on the front pageHeadlines httpjohnedwardscomnewsheadlines Press Releases httpjohnedwardscomnewspress-releases
Social Networking Sites Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscomactionnetworking Edwards has a bunch (see below)Not sure if he is really able to use all of these to greatest advantage
Multimedia Yes Yes httpjohnedwardscommedia mdash audio video podcasts photos
Audio No Yes httpjohnedwardscommediaaudio
Video Yes DTV httpwwwchrisdoddcomdtv Yes httpjohnedwardscommediavideo
Photos No Scattered photos around site have to go to Flickr tosee photos
Yes httpjohnedwardscomphotos
Spanish Translation No There is a link to a single page of Spanish text but that is about it httpjohnedwardscomespanol
24 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Gravel Dennis KucinichWeb Site httpwwwgravel2008us httpwwwdennis4presidentcom
Archived site httpwww2kucinichus
Blog No No as of July 30 2007 but Web site being updated
Allows comments Yes section called Forums where supporters can post to theforum Requires registration
No
Enables citizen-generated blog (startyour own blog)
No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomblogmain Registrationrequired
Enables citizen-generated forums Yes Can submit new topics to the forumhttpwwwgravel2008usforum
Forum section [httpactiondennis4presidentcomforum] has beenset up for supporters Can also browse members and check profilesand interests
Calendar No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomeventmainAllows supporters to add an event to the schedule Old site also has a calendar httpwww2kucinichusschedule
Where is the candidate No Yes The schedule lists the campaign events Kucinich will participate in
Others Act Blue httpssecureactbluecomentityfundraisers12513MeetUp httpdemocratmeetupcom1056Google Groups httpgroupsgooglecomgroupgravel2008hl=enVirb httpwwwvirbcommikegravel08 DFA Link httpwwwdfalinkcomgroupphpid=2246Second Life httpgovirtualforgravelwordpresscom20070529want-to-pay-us-a-visit-how-to-visit-sen-gravel-in-second-life
No
Multimedia Yes Yes
Audio No Links to House of Representative floor speeches
Video Yes Yes YouTube
Photos No Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 25
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Barack Obama Bill RichardsonWeb Site httpwwwbarackobamacom httprichardsonforpresidentcomhome
Blog Yes httpwwwbarackobamacomblogAll blogs on site searchable including CommunityHeadquarters blog
Headquarters Blog httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompagecommunitygroupHeadquarters
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
httpmybarackobamacompageuserloginsuccessurl=L3BhZ2UvZGFzaGJvYXJkL3ByaXZhdGU= Set up MyBarakObamacom Many tools available
Yes Requires registration Has an Action Center but it does not lookas if you can set up your blog on the site
Enables citizen-generated forums See above Start a Group This allows you to set up a group and a blog for posting
Calendar Yes Find an Event httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompageeventsearch_simple
Where is the candidate Yes No calendar of candidatersquos schedule but can use ldquoFind an Eventrdquo tosee where the candidate and other events appear in your area
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Volunteering opportunities available Yes as well as other volunteering opportunities
26 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Sam Brownback Rudy GiulianiWeb Site httpwwwbrownbackcomsHometabid127Defaultaspx httpwwwjoinrudy2008comindexphp
Blog httpwwwbrownbackercom No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No No Provides widgets to be used on your own blog (createdelsewhere)
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No specific calendar but there is a section called ldquoOn the Roadrdquo thatprovides information on where the campaign is traveling Also underthe blog there is an events button where you can find out moreabout the candidatersquos schedule httpbrownbackercompage_id=4
No
Where is the candidate See above No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No Multiple ways to volunteer time
Store Yes httpwwwzazzlecomBrownback08 Yes httpwwwrudy2008storecom
Grass-Roots Tools Minimal Yes
Blog for candidate No Widget tools for your own blog
Fundraising events No Yes
Internships for undergraduate college students No No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Join ldquoTeam Brownbackrdquo Identify the coalitions you wish to belongto
ldquoJoin the Causerdquo
Voter registration No No
News About the Campaign Yes In the News On the Blogs On the Issues Featured No
RSS feeds Only available on the blog httpbrownbackercomfeed=rss2 Yes Multiple RSS feeds available
Podcasts No No
Social Networking Sites Yes No
Facebook httpfranciscanfacebookcompersonphpid=2643600222 No
Flickr No No
MySpace httpwwwmyspacecomsambrownback No
YouTube httpwwwyoutubecomprofileuser=Brownback4President No
OthersMultimedia Yes Yes
Audio No No
Video Yes httpwwwbrownbackcomsNewsRoomVideotabid120Defaultaspx
Yes httpwwwjoinrudy2008comvideos
Photos Scattered throughout site Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 27
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
24 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Gravel Dennis KucinichWeb Site httpwwwgravel2008us httpwwwdennis4presidentcom
Archived site httpwww2kucinichus
Blog No No as of July 30 2007 but Web site being updated
Allows comments Yes section called Forums where supporters can post to theforum Requires registration
No
Enables citizen-generated blog (startyour own blog)
No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomblogmain Registrationrequired
Enables citizen-generated forums Yes Can submit new topics to the forumhttpwwwgravel2008usforum
Forum section [httpactiondennis4presidentcomforum] has beenset up for supporters Can also browse members and check profilesand interests
Calendar No Yes httpactiondennis4presidentcomeventmainAllows supporters to add an event to the schedule Old site also has a calendar httpwww2kucinichusschedule
Where is the candidate No Yes The schedule lists the campaign events Kucinich will participate in
Others Act Blue httpssecureactbluecomentityfundraisers12513MeetUp httpdemocratmeetupcom1056Google Groups httpgroupsgooglecomgroupgravel2008hl=enVirb httpwwwvirbcommikegravel08 DFA Link httpwwwdfalinkcomgroupphpid=2246Second Life httpgovirtualforgravelwordpresscom20070529want-to-pay-us-a-visit-how-to-visit-sen-gravel-in-second-life
No
Multimedia Yes Yes
Audio No Links to House of Representative floor speeches
Video Yes Yes YouTube
Photos No Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 25
Democratic Party Candidates
Candidate Barack Obama Bill RichardsonWeb Site httpwwwbarackobamacom httprichardsonforpresidentcomhome
Blog Yes httpwwwbarackobamacomblogAll blogs on site searchable including CommunityHeadquarters blog
Headquarters Blog httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompagecommunitygroupHeadquarters
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
httpmybarackobamacompageuserloginsuccessurl=L3BhZ2UvZGFzaGJvYXJkL3ByaXZhdGU= Set up MyBarakObamacom Many tools available
Yes Requires registration Has an Action Center but it does not lookas if you can set up your blog on the site
Enables citizen-generated forums See above Start a Group This allows you to set up a group and a blog for posting
Calendar Yes Find an Event httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompageeventsearch_simple
Where is the candidate Yes No calendar of candidatersquos schedule but can use ldquoFind an Eventrdquo tosee where the candidate and other events appear in your area
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Volunteering opportunities available Yes as well as other volunteering opportunities
26 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Sam Brownback Rudy GiulianiWeb Site httpwwwbrownbackcomsHometabid127Defaultaspx httpwwwjoinrudy2008comindexphp
Blog httpwwwbrownbackercom No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No No Provides widgets to be used on your own blog (createdelsewhere)
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No specific calendar but there is a section called ldquoOn the Roadrdquo thatprovides information on where the campaign is traveling Also underthe blog there is an events button where you can find out moreabout the candidatersquos schedule httpbrownbackercompage_id=4
No
Where is the candidate See above No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No Multiple ways to volunteer time
Store Yes httpwwwzazzlecomBrownback08 Yes httpwwwrudy2008storecom
Grass-Roots Tools Minimal Yes
Blog for candidate No Widget tools for your own blog
Fundraising events No Yes
Internships for undergraduate college students No No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Join ldquoTeam Brownbackrdquo Identify the coalitions you wish to belongto
ldquoJoin the Causerdquo
Voter registration No No
News About the Campaign Yes In the News On the Blogs On the Issues Featured No
RSS feeds Only available on the blog httpbrownbackercomfeed=rss2 Yes Multiple RSS feeds available
Podcasts No No
Social Networking Sites Yes No
Facebook httpfranciscanfacebookcompersonphpid=2643600222 No
Flickr No No
MySpace httpwwwmyspacecomsambrownback No
YouTube httpwwwyoutubecomprofileuser=Brownback4President No
OthersMultimedia Yes Yes
Audio No No
Video Yes httpwwwbrownbackcomsNewsRoomVideotabid120Defaultaspx
Yes httpwwwjoinrudy2008comvideos
Photos Scattered throughout site Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 27
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Candidate Barack Obama Bill RichardsonWeb Site httpwwwbarackobamacom httprichardsonforpresidentcomhome
Blog Yes httpwwwbarackobamacomblogAll blogs on site searchable including CommunityHeadquarters blog
Headquarters Blog httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompagecommunitygroupHeadquarters
Allows comments Yes Yes
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
httpmybarackobamacompageuserloginsuccessurl=L3BhZ2UvZGFzaGJvYXJkL3ByaXZhdGU= Set up MyBarakObamacom Many tools available
Yes Requires registration Has an Action Center but it does not lookas if you can set up your blog on the site
Enables citizen-generated forums See above Start a Group This allows you to set up a group and a blog for posting
Calendar Yes Find an Event httpactionrichardsonforpresidentcompageeventsearch_simple
Where is the candidate Yes No calendar of candidatersquos schedule but can use ldquoFind an Eventrdquo tosee where the candidate and other events appear in your area
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties Volunteering opportunities available Yes as well as other volunteering opportunities
26 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Sam Brownback Rudy GiulianiWeb Site httpwwwbrownbackcomsHometabid127Defaultaspx httpwwwjoinrudy2008comindexphp
Blog httpwwwbrownbackercom No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No No Provides widgets to be used on your own blog (createdelsewhere)
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No specific calendar but there is a section called ldquoOn the Roadrdquo thatprovides information on where the campaign is traveling Also underthe blog there is an events button where you can find out moreabout the candidatersquos schedule httpbrownbackercompage_id=4
No
Where is the candidate See above No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No Multiple ways to volunteer time
Store Yes httpwwwzazzlecomBrownback08 Yes httpwwwrudy2008storecom
Grass-Roots Tools Minimal Yes
Blog for candidate No Widget tools for your own blog
Fundraising events No Yes
Internships for undergraduate college students No No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Join ldquoTeam Brownbackrdquo Identify the coalitions you wish to belongto
ldquoJoin the Causerdquo
Voter registration No No
News About the Campaign Yes In the News On the Blogs On the Issues Featured No
RSS feeds Only available on the blog httpbrownbackercomfeed=rss2 Yes Multiple RSS feeds available
Podcasts No No
Social Networking Sites Yes No
Facebook httpfranciscanfacebookcompersonphpid=2643600222 No
Flickr No No
MySpace httpwwwmyspacecomsambrownback No
YouTube httpwwwyoutubecomprofileuser=Brownback4President No
OthersMultimedia Yes Yes
Audio No No
Video Yes httpwwwbrownbackcomsNewsRoomVideotabid120Defaultaspx
Yes httpwwwjoinrudy2008comvideos
Photos Scattered throughout site Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 27
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
26 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Sam Brownback Rudy GiulianiWeb Site httpwwwbrownbackcomsHometabid127Defaultaspx httpwwwjoinrudy2008comindexphp
Blog httpwwwbrownbackercom No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog)
No No Provides widgets to be used on your own blog (createdelsewhere)
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No specific calendar but there is a section called ldquoOn the Roadrdquo thatprovides information on where the campaign is traveling Also underthe blog there is an events button where you can find out moreabout the candidatersquos schedule httpbrownbackercompage_id=4
No
Where is the candidate See above No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes
Donations Yes Yes
Hold fundraising house parties No Multiple ways to volunteer time
Store Yes httpwwwzazzlecomBrownback08 Yes httpwwwrudy2008storecom
Grass-Roots Tools Minimal Yes
Blog for candidate No Widget tools for your own blog
Fundraising events No Yes
Internships for undergraduate college students No No
Meetup door-to-door canvassing phone callsletter writing community events
Join ldquoTeam Brownbackrdquo Identify the coalitions you wish to belongto
ldquoJoin the Causerdquo
Voter registration No No
News About the Campaign Yes In the News On the Blogs On the Issues Featured No
RSS feeds Only available on the blog httpbrownbackercomfeed=rss2 Yes Multiple RSS feeds available
Podcasts No No
Social Networking Sites Yes No
Facebook httpfranciscanfacebookcompersonphpid=2643600222 No
Flickr No No
MySpace httpwwwmyspacecomsambrownback No
YouTube httpwwwyoutubecomprofileuser=Brownback4President No
OthersMultimedia Yes Yes
Audio No No
Video Yes httpwwwbrownbackcomsNewsRoomVideotabid120Defaultaspx
Yes httpwwwjoinrudy2008comvideos
Photos Scattered throughout site Scattered throughout site
Spanish Translation No No
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 27
Republican Party Candidates
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Candidate Mike Huckabee Duncan HunterWeb Site httpwwwmikehuckabeecom httpwwwgohunter08comindexasp
Blog httpwwwmikehuckabeecomindexcfmFuseAction=BlogsHome
No
Allows comments Yes No
Enables citizen-generated blog (start your own blog) No But if you already have a blog you can be added to the candidatersquos BlogRoll Can request an interview withHuckabee via your blog Campaign makes banners and buttons available for your blog
No
Enables citizen-generated forums No No
Calendar No Minimal Single entry of upcoming events
Where is the candidate No No
Fundraising Tools Yes Yes eLeader Program sets up fundraising goals
Donations Yes Yes Single donation or Monthly Donor program
Hold fundraising house parties Multiple ways to participate in campaign Multiple volunteering opportunities including hostingfundraiser
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Video Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomFredCastFredCastSummaryaspx
Photos Yes httpwwwimwithfredcomPhotoGalleryaspx
Spanish Translation No
All candidate photographs were taken from their individual Web sites
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 31
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
MAINSTREAM MEDIA Campaign 2008 News Sites ndash Web Features
(Web sites surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
News Organization CNN Politics and CNN Election Center 2008 CQ Politicscom URL httpwwwcnncomPOLITICS httpwwwcqpoliticscom
News Top political stories CQPoliticscom Headlines Breaking News
Contact reporter Reporter listed no contact email Yes Two ways to communicate with CQPolitics Directly to ContributingEditor Craig Crawford [ccrawfordcqcom] or click on the reporterrsquosname General email address and the title of the article will appear in thesubject line of the email (for Outlook)
Comments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites No Yes Bookmark this article on delicious or Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags Yes Yes
Blogs CNN PoliticalTicker [httppoliticaltickerblogscnncom] Provides latest politi-cal news Can also have a twice daily email sent on political news and events
CQPoliticscom is very much like a blog with posts in chronologicalorder Multiple reporters contributing to the site
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes Yes
From other blogs Yes Powered by Sphere Quick List of blogs as it relates to the different newsstories Clicking on a story will give you a bottom link to ldquoFrom Other Blogsrdquo
Yes Partnership with Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix [httpwwwcrawfordslistcomblog]
Podcast feeds Race to 08 podcasts (main Politics page) Also has a video and podcastingpage httpwwwcnncomservicespodcasting
No
Video Yes httpwwwcnncomvideopolitics No
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes (powered by Google) Options Search the Web (default) Search CNNSearch Video
Yes
News Search CNN (news) Yes Limited to CQPoliticscom
Blogs No way to search blogs Includes Craig Crawfordrsquos Trail Mix
Video Yes No
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes No
Podcasts Yes No
Streaming video mdash live video Yes available on mobile No
Video Yes No
Tools Yes CNN Election Center 2008 [httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008]Separate section from the main CNN Politics page
Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008candidates Provides informationabout the candidates Bio Career and Other Facts Also provides MoneyPolls Supporters and Advisors (source FEC)
Tracking money for candidates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneydemshtmlhttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008moneygophtml Also provides MoneyRaised Money Spent Total as well as money raised and spent by theRepublican and Democratic National committees
Direct Link to CQrsquos Moneyline httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo
Issues Yes Section on issues such as abortion immigration Iaq same-sex marriage Social Security taxes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008issuesissuesabortionhtml
No
Presidential debates Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debates Includes dates and timesalong with Scorecard Analysis Audience Questions Behind the ScenesMoney Debate Downloads States to watch and Debate Transcripts
Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Calendar No No
Primaries and maps Path to the Presidency httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008pathpresidency Yes httpwwwcqpoliticscom2008_timelinehtml
Polls and surveys Yes No
States to watch Yes httpwwwcnncomELECTION2008statesiowahtml No
Scorecard CNNYouTube debate Provides users to rate the candidates in the debatehttpwwwcnncomELECTION2008debatesscorecardyoutubedebate
No
Table 2
32 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization MSNBC Politics Politics Powered by NBC News and National Journal [httpelectionnationaljournalcom]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
News Headlines Can be sorted by Importance Title Date and Source Latest news
Contact reporter No Yes Click on the reporterrsquos name Page will list other articles writtenby reporter Form provided to email reporter
Comments on news pieces No No
Share with community sites No Yes Digg Facebook Newsvine
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No (tag cloud on side bar)
Blogs Bloglike First Read is NBC News analysis of the dayrsquos political news[httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom] Not called a blog
Yes The Caucus mdash Political Blogging from The New York Times [httpthecaucusblogsnytimescom] Video embedded directly in blog posts
Enable comments Yes Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomrss2xml Atom httpthecaucusblogsnytimescomatomxml
From other blogs No List of links to political links Links to MSNBCrsquos other blogs NYTimes Blogroll general political blogs Election 2008 political blogscampaign cash
Email alerts Yes httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid7422971 Yes To sign up for political email news click on a political story Topright of page will allow you to sign up for daily email alerts of topnews stories
Mobile alerts Mobile access for all of MSNBC News not limited to political newshttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid16192026
No
RSS feeds Yes Multiple options for political news via RSS [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid5216556page=2ampPolitics] RSS feed also available forFirstRead Blog [httpfirstreadmsnbcmsncom]
Yes General RSS feeds Washington RSS feed for blog
Podcast feeds Yes Podcasts are available No one specifically identified as politicalhttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid8132577
Many podcasts None completely focused on election 2008httpwwwnytimescomrefmultimediapodcastshtml
Video Yes Video is available for the different shows on NBChttpwwwmsnbcmsncomid3032553
Yes Dispersed throughout the site in both the news section and in the blog
Customization Yes Yes
Search the site Yes Search is available for MSNBC and for Web Yes Search All of NYTimes
News Search available for MSNBC and the different shows on MSNBC Search US
Blogs Search is available on FirstRead Can search the blog the Web or MSNBC
Search the blog
Video Video is browsable Browseable video collection arranged by topic [httpvideoonnytimescomindexjsp] Election 2008 Campaign Ad Candidates
Podcasts No No
Audio and Video Features Yes Yes
Podcasts Yes Podcasts available but not searchable
Streaming video mdash live video No No
Video Yes Yes
Tools Yes Yes
Election Guide mdash Candidates Yes Page down to see the list [httpwwwmsnbcmsncomid18970417] for news stories biographical information video on the issues
Yes Links to who is running and links to candidate profileshttpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008candidateshtml
Tracking money for candidates No Yes httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml Includes links to candidates and an interactive mapshowing where the money is coming from based on demographicinformation (source FEC)
Issues Critical Issues Critical Races Links to Chris Matthewsrsquo BlogHardblogger httphardbloggermsnbcmsncom
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Contact reporter Yes Click on reporterrsquos name Your email is required to con-tact reporter
No Most of the stories are from AP
Comments on news pieces Yes Yes
Share with community sites Yes Digg delicious Technorati Reddit RecommendationTool
Yes Digg delicious Newsvine Reddit Facebook
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No Yes
Blogs Yes Dems 08 mdash Ben Smithrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith] Provides Smithrsquos blogroll of favoritepolitical blogs Republicans 08 mdash Jonathan Martinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] ProvidesMartinrsquos favorite political blogs
Yes On Politics httpblogsusatodaycomonpolitics
Enable comments Yes Share blog posts Digg This delicious Reddit YahooFacebook Google Technorati
Yes
On-Demand Access Yes RSS feeds for individual blogs Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssbensmithxml] JonathanMartinrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomrssjonathanmartinxml]
Yes Election 2008 RSS Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news26] Washington Feed [httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news3] Subscribe to On Politics (blog)feed httpaspusatodaycommarketingrssrsstransaspxfeedId=news25
From other blogs Politicorsquos map of the political blogosphere [httpwwwpoliticocomblogosphere] Top stories from partnersIncludes blogs and mainstream media
Yes Headlines from Politicocom and from Across the Web which givesselected list of blogs and mainstream news on Election 2008 Read the edi-tors selection of feeds or make your own selections
Email alerts Yes General Politico news Scroll to bottom of pagehttpdynpoliticocomlogincfm Sign up for email fromJonathan Martinrsquos Blog [httpwwwpoliticocomblogsjonathanmartin] and Ben Smithrsquos Blog[httpwwwpoliticocomblogsbensmith]
General email alerts not specifically for politics
Mobile alerts Yes Daily Digest for your PDA Yes General httpwwwusatodaycommobileindexhtmPOE=FOOTER
RSS feeds Yes General httpwwwpoliticocomrss Yes Multiple RSS feeds
Podcast feeds No No
Video Yes Politico and user-generated videos Yes httpusatodayfeedroomcomindexjspfr_chl=a93b9f5b1b99429de82a966023114bf83e1917c0
States to watch No NoScorecard No NoMiscellaneous Political 08 links include The Living Room Candidate
RealClearPolitics Politics1 Federal Election CommissionTaegan Goddardrsquos Political Wire Pew Research TalkingPoints Memo Election Law Blog The Campaign Finance Institute
34 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
News Organization Wall Street Journal Politics Washington Post Politics
URL Politics and Policy httponlinewsjcompage2_0008htmlElection 2008 httponlinewsjcompublicpageelection2008htmlRequires subscription
Main politics page httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpolitics Election 2008 httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatesnid=roll_08campaignElections httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-dyncontentpoliticselections
News Yes Yes
Contact reporter Yes Email address for reporter is provided Yes Form provided to contact reporterComments on news pieces No Yes
Share with community sites Related articles and blogs (powered by Sphere) Question of the Day
Yes Digg delicious Reddit Facebook Google Yahoo
Email article Yes Yes
Tags No No
Blogs Yes Washington Wire httpblogswsjcomwashwire Tags included
Yes The Trail a Daily Diary of Campaign 2008 httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trail
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Washington Wire RSS Feed [httpblogswsjcomwashwirefeed]Yes RSS feed for blog httpblogwashingtonpostcomthe-trailindexxml
From other blogs Yes Links to other blogs that have posted on this topic or on thisarticle (powered by Sphere)
Yes Best of the Web RealClearPolitics Washington Wire WSJNewsweekcom The Gaggle
Email alerts No Yes Political news and analysis Federal Insider breaking news alerts
Mobile alerts Mobile services are provided httpmobilewsjcom Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvcontentsdeviceshtmPolitics Alerts Up to 7 alerts per week The best and latest in poli-tics news from The Post Text POLITICS to WPOST (97678)
Podcast feeds Yes Yes httpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm Specific political podcast availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediap3podcastxml
Video No Yes Video podcasts availablehttpwwwwashingtonpostcomwp-srvmmediapodcastfronthtm
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
Founder Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor inchief of The Huffington Post
Joshua Micah Marshall
Description Started in 2002 One of the most important progres-siveliberal blogs in the political blogosphere Veryactive with a cast of writers YearlyKos is the annualconference that has gained mainstream notice Thisyearrsquos conference was held in Chicago and all butone of the Democratic presidential candidatesattended [httpwwwyearlykosconventionorg]
The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 and hasbecome a popular site for news and opinion onpolitical news and events Many guest contributorsto the site never a dull moment from this site
Talking Points Memo is the flagship blog of TPMMedia LLC which also published TPMmuckrakerTPM Election Central and TPMCafe Josh Marshallbegan publishing Talking Points Memo in November2000 during the Florida recount TPM launched its second site TPMCafecom in 2005 andTPMuckrakercom and TPM Election Central in 2006[httpwwwtalkingpointsmemocomaboutphp]
Political Blogs(Blogs surveyed July 28 ndash Aug 5 2007)
Blog Andrew Sullivan ndash The Daily Dish Instapunditcom Patrick Ruffinicom
Founder Andrew Sullivan started this blog in 2000 andteamed with Atlantic Monthly in February2007 to post daily on a wide range of topics
Site is run by University of Tennessee law professor Glen Reynolds His chief interest isthe intersection between technology and individual liberty
Patrick Ruffini runs this blog
Description Thoughtful and interesting blog from a conservative perspective Includes some commentary and links to news sites articlesand other blogs
I like this blog Reynolds does not concentratesolely on politics but you will get a daily dose ofpolitical news and links to news articles reportsand surveys
Ruffini has been actively involved in Republican politics and wasthe e-campaign director at the Republican National Committeefrom 2005 to 2007 He was responsible for overseeing the partyrsquos online strategy for the 2006 election cycle His site is a combination of links to blogs news sites candidate news and his own commentary on topics of interest
Name Memeorandumcom Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire RealClearPoliticscom
Who Runs the Site Gabe Riveria Taegan D Goddard is the creator of PoliticalWire a political column updated around the clockwith interesting news buzz and commentary
Founded in 2000 by John McIntyre and TomBevan Publishes commentary news and pollingdata and provides tools and resources from aroundthe political blogosphere and mainstream media
Description This is one of my favorite aggregator sites Itrefreshes every 5 minutes posting new newsfrom blogs and mainstream media Riveria set upthis site in 2005 because he was having a hardtime tracking blog posts on political topics If youhave only a few minutes to check up on politicalnews via the blogosphere this is the place to go
This is also one of the sites that offers a reallynice collection of breaking news and news onRepublicans (Wingers) and Democrats (SouthPaws) Links to polling data is also provided
RealClearPolitics is another aggregator site thatcan help you filter through blogs mainstreammedia and other less-well-known sites
Aggregator Tools and Blogs
Blog PrezVidcom TechPresidentcom
URL httpwwwprezvidcom httpwwwtechpresidentcom
Who Runs the Site Jeff Jarvis and Peter Hauck run the site TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a newgroup blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign
Description Jarvis and Hauck are interested in the role video can play in the upcomingpresidential election Jarvis firmly believes that video and YouTube can beimportant communication resources for both presidential candidates and forvoters and citizens who want to participate in the election by making theirquestions heard
The site provides commentary links to news and blogs The list of contributorsis clearly a whorsquos who of bloggers who have participated in the 2004 and2006 campaigns In the spirit of welcoming opposing viewpoints and opinions TechPresidentcom is one of those sites where thoughtfuldiscourse and thoughtful debate happens Completely and totally refreshing
TechnologyPolitical Blogs
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
message to ldquofriendsrdquo that the candidates cannot afford thetime or resources or the site isnrsquot very active It remains tobe seen if the social networking tools will have an impacton the primaries and the general election but ldquopresum-ably social networking creates enthusiasm drives trafficand might translate into both fundraising and votes Intheory it might be particularly helpful in caucus statessuch as Iowa where getting someone to actually turn outinvolves more than just going to a polling place for a fewminutes to cast a quick voterdquo7
In terms of grass-roots activity the campaigns providea quick way to donate money and other tools to helpdevelop community involvement Some campaigns pro-vide tools to host fundraisers and house parties othersprovide email form letters for supporters to send out Oneunderrepresented feature is helping citizens sign up tovote Three Democrats (Clinton Edwards and Obama)provide a link for registering to vote on the Republicanside only Fred Thompson has a register to vote link Thisseems like a no-brainer but most of the candidates mdashRepublican and Democrat mdash clearly give it low priority Interms of fundraising several of the campaigns provide aldquobuild your ownrdquo fundraising campaign with goals Con-tributors agree to raise money on behalf of the candidateset their own goals and watch their progress right on thecampaign site This is a powerful motivator
The top Democratic candidates appear to be doing wellwith the new tools According to Hitwisecom [httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-centerkey-candidatesphp] a service that tracks the surfing behavior of 10 mil-lion Americans across 1 million sites ldquoonline interest inDemocrats is way ahead of the Republicans For examplefor the week ended Aug 4 the Democrats drew a whop-ping 66 percent of all the traffic to candidate websitesrdquo8
Democratic candidates are raising record sums of moneyonline and signing up thousands via social networkingsites In early August Barack Obama ldquoled the pack hellip with
about 122000 Facebook contacts mdash more than twice thecombined total of all the Republican candidates com-bined mdash and more than 158000 MySpace friendsrdquo9 Interms of raising money the Democrats appear to be win-ning at this as well ldquomall contributions via the Internethave given Obama who is the fundraising leader andEdwards about one-third of their funding Candidates pre-fer small donors (usually defined as those giving less than$200) because they can be tapped repeatedly without vio-lating giving limits
The tools are available how well the candidates usethem incorporate them and embrace them mdash only timewill tell Democratic consultant Zack Exley hit the nail onthe head when he remarked ldquoOnline politics will not reachits potential until overall campaign strategy is planned withthe Internet in mindrdquo Likewise Patrick Ruffini the formeronline strategist for the Republican National Committeeand Webmaster for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign putit this way ldquoThe campaign manager should be the Inter-net director and understand the Internet as the essentialplatform for communicationrdquo10 By 2012 the Internet willbe so essential and mainstream to presidential politics itprobably wonrsquot even warrant an article like this
Mainstream Media and thePresidential Campaign
These days mainstream media faces attacks from manydirections In its ldquoState of the News Media 2007rdquo the Pro-ject for Excellence in Journalism found that newspaperswere suffering from declining circulation flat revenuesdropping earnings and deep newsroom cuts and layoffs11
Television news also has suffered from a declining audi-ence and cable news ldquois beginning to lose its claim as theprimary destination for what was once its main appealnews on demandrdquo12 To top it off a recent Pew ResearchCenter poll found that the American public has a negativeview of the press Many Americans criticize the press ldquoforpolitical bias inaccuracy and failing to acknowledge mis-takesrdquo The Pew Research Center poll also found thatldquosome of the harshest indictments of the press now comefrom the growing segment that relies on the Internet as itsmain source for national and international newsrdquo In factthe poll found that ldquoas many as 38 of those who relymostly on the Internet for news say they have an unfavor-able opinion of cable news networks such as CNN FoxNews Channel and MSNBC compared with 25 of thepublic overall and just 17 of television news viewersrdquo13
Coupled with the decline in readership of newspapers themedia has taken a hit in both its pocketbook and its cred-ibility Ouch
The only bright spot it would appear is the Internet andonline news News organizations are moving the focustowards online and instant news Online news sites have
You can track the top presidential candidates on Hitwisecom
36 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
(Text continued from page 21)
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 37
The 51st State The State of Online
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
begun offering a whole range of tools mdash RSS feeds pod-casts online video etc But even with these cool new bellsand whistles ldquoit is not clear if the Web will ever makeenough money to support journalism as we know it inprintrdquo14 The Project for Excellence has identified one ofthe main criticisms of digital journalism as the failure ofnews sites to really tap into the power and depth of the Webmdash ldquoto enrich coverage by offering links to original docu-ments background material additional coverage andmorerdquo15 However I think that with the upcoming presi-dential election we will see a change mdash we already haveThe online news sites are trying to reach out to those whospend most of their time on the Internet by offering use-ful interesting fun and dynamic tools for the presidentialcampaign These sites are trying to stay relevant andimportant for this campaign and in so doing have begunoffering some pretty amazing Internet resources ones thatshould appeal to just about any politicalnews junkie
On July 23 2007 CNN and YouTube teamed to hold thefirst ever presidential debate in which Democratic candi-dates were asked questions by YouTubers questions sub-mitted via video (CNNndashYouTube questions for Democra-tic Candidates [httpyoutubecomdemocraticdebate])The Republican version of the CNNndashYouTube debate istentatively scheduled for Nov 28 2007 Questions for theRepublican debate are also available [httpyoutubecomrepublicandebate] Many bloggers and politicalobservers hailed this first attempt at a video debate as aninnovative and creative use of technology and online videoto give ldquoreal peoplerdquo all over the country (well all over theNet) to ask presidential candidates their questions Thedebates were televised CNN has made the complete tran-script available [httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptindexhtml and httpwwwcnncom2007POLITICS0723debatetranscriptpart2indexhtml] CNN and YouTube have also agreed as have ABCand NBC to allow the video footage to be used bloggedremixed and posted on the Internet16 What does thismean As Greg Sterling blogged ldquo[T]his debate and therelated videos and commentary will have a long afterlifethat political debates have not had historically Archivingof these questions and responses will allow millions ofpeople who didnrsquot tune in to watch CNN to see the videoWersquove entered the era of lsquodebates on demandrsquordquo17
Not to be left out The Huffington Post teamed withYahoo and Slatecom to host the first ever online-onlypresidential candidate mashup The event was scheduledfor Sept 12 2007 with moderator Charlie Rose All theDemocratic candidates have agreed to participate ARepublican candidate mashup is in the planning for Nov28 After the debates the videos will be coded and madeavailable on the Net18
These are some of the offerings mainstream media isserving up for viewers political supporters candidates
and the voting public What else is mainstream mediadoing to be relevant and useful in this upcoming presi-dential election of 2008 We have chosen eight news sites(CNNcom CQPoliticscom MSNBCcom NYTimescomPoliticocom USATodaycom WSJcom and Washington-postcom) to examine the tools offered in the daily cover-age of the presidential campaigns (See Table 2 beginningon page 31) How well do the mainstream sites providenews interactive tools (comments to the reporters com-ments on news blogs) sharing tools (Digg NewsvineFacebook delicious) email mobile and RSS alerts andelection guide tools mdash information about the candidates(biographical information careers) candidate fundrais-ing activities campaign issues calendar of scheduledevents and polls and surveys of the candidates
FindingsAll of the news organization sites listed use what the
Internet has to offer by providing their own blogs ondemand resources (RSS feeds podcasts email and mobilealerts) and lots and lots of video CQPoliticscomNYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom and Washington-postcom let readers contact reporters with questions orcomments some (CQPoliticscom Politicocom USATo-daycom and Washingtonpostcom) allow comments onregular news pieces mdash not just blog entries All the sitesprovide RSS feeds for both news and blog posts and fiveof the eight offer podcasts of the campaign The reallyinteresting and useful tools come in the form of the elec-tion guides The Washingtonpostcom has ldquoCampaignTrackerrdquo mdash a mashup up of the candidatesrsquo official sched-ules and Google Maps [httpprojectswashingtonpostcom2008-presidential-candidatestracker] Money andfundraising dominate the news both The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal have provided innovative tools
Politicocomrsquos Politics rsquo08 also has extensive information on thepresidential candidates
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
38 SEARCHER The Magazine for Database Professionals
The 51st State The State of Online
to chart the fundraising race The New York Times shows amap of the US for each candidate and the amount ofmoney raised for each candidate by ZIP code An interac-tive time line (a slider) shows where the candidate hasraised money across the US [httpwwwnytimescomrefuspolitics2008_EG_FINANCEShtml] The WallStreet Journal has its own 2008 Money Race that providesa chart of the money raised by some of the candidates themoney spent and cash on hand [httponlinewsjcompagepolitics_policyhtmlmod=2_0008] Combine thistool with its ldquoCandidate Scorecardrdquo an interactive tool thatpresents the candidates the money they have raised anda timeline of significant events relevant to each campaign
If you really want to track the money race take a lookat CQrsquos Moneylinecom [httpmoneylinecqcompmlhomedo] and The Center for Responsible Politics OpenSecretsorg [httpwwwopensecretsorg] Both use Fed-eral Election Commission (FEC) data but in different andcreative ways Polling data is also provided by CNNcomMSNBCcom NYTimescom Politicocom WSJcom andWashingtonpostcom
I expect that you will see mainstream news sites usingmore and more user-generated mashups videos pic-tures and audio incorporated into the very fabric ofonline news sites The interested public is using thesetools and the news sites which take advantage of theseresources will be the place to go This is what mainstreammedia wants and needs
Political BlogsYou know blogs have come a long way when all the
Democratic candidates agree that if elected they will havean official White House blogger Political blogs are increas-ingly an important staple for finding sharing learningand reporting on political news Out of all the many polit-ical blogs we have selected links to a few (both conserva-tive and liberal) to get you started (See Table 3 on page35) Probably the best known of the political blogs is Dai-lyKoscom started by Markos Moulitsas Zuacuteniga in 2002Daily Kos is the top-rated political blog in NZ Bearrsquos theTruth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem averaging morethan 500000 visitors a day [httptruthlaidbearcomshowdetailsphphost=httpdailykoscom] It ranksnumber three in Hitwisersquos Top Ten Political Web sites[httpwwwhitwisecompolitical-data-center] This lib-eralprogressive blog shows its partisan nature clearlyDepending on the way you see the world you might likeor dislike its view points but make no mistake this blogalong with its followers has had a tremendous impact onpolitical discourse political blogging and the rising ldquonet-rootsrdquo movement YearlyKos held its second conventionin Chicago this year and all the Democratic candidatessave one attended and participated in the event
Talking Points Memo (TPM) run by Josh Marshall isa one of the most useful and interesting political blogsIt combines news blog posts investigative reportingand campaign news Though campaign news abounds atthe main site Marshall has provided TPM CampaignCentral for news about the political campaigns (If youwant more investigative reporting check out TPM Muck-raker Marshall led the political blogosphere and themainstream media with his reporting on the firing of theUS attorneys)19
I particularly like (and highly recommend) PatrickRuffinirsquos political blog [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom]where he combines both blog posts and links to blogs andnews stories I find Ruffinirsquos posts thoughtful and insight-ful for his take on the Republican and Democratic cam-paigns and their use of technology His passion for poli-tics is refreshing and his commentary is valuable Checkout his ldquo2008 Presidential Wirerdquo [httpwwwpatrickruffinicom2008wire] He has done a great job of provid-ing a single place for political news
Aggregator ToolsFollowing the candidates the campaigns the money
race the issues the debates the primaries etc can be adaunting task Three aggregator tools have become essen-tial when tracking political candidates news blog newstranscripts documents videos and polling data Meme-orandum Teagan Goddardrsquos Political Wire and RealClear-Politics (RCP) are valuable tools (See Table 4 on page 35)Each one has something useful to offer Political Wire haspolitical news divided into three categories mdash ldquoBreakingNewsrdquo ldquoSouthpawsrdquo and ldquoWingersrdquo and Goddard offerslinks to all the major polls and surveys Memeorandumhas links to both blogs and mainstream news updatesevery 5 minutes and covers political news from bloggersto experts to mainstream news sites RCP provides links toboth blogs and mainstream news as well as editorials andcommentary mdash all in one place RCP also provides its ownup-to-date polling information and data No doubt apolitical junkiersquos ldquodied and gone to heavenrdquo set of tools
TechnologyElection 2008 Blogs
Two important blogs cover the technology of politicsspecifically mdash TechPresidentcom and Prezvidcom (SeeTable 5 on page 35) TechPresidentcom started by AndrewRasiej and Micah Sifry is a ldquonew group blog that covershow the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Weband vice versa how content generated by voters is affect-ing the campaignrdquo20 Prezvidcom launched by Jeff Jarvisand Peter Hauck tracks the 2008 presidential campaignsthrough the use of online video and YouTube They plan
wwwinfotodaycomsearcher NovemberDecember 2007 39
The 51st State The State of Online
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]
to use PrezVid to showcase the ldquovideos we think that mat-ter mdash from candidates from citizens and from remixersWe will look at how Internet video affects the campaignand the countryrdquo21 Together these two blogs provide avaluable and essential window to how the campaigns usetechnology The commentary challenges some prettybasic assumptions provides stimulating discussion andidentifies new innovative and creative technologies usedby the campaigns the mainstream media the blogos-phere and those individuals and organizations creatinguseful tools to monitor and track the upcoming electionIf nothing else you will see how innovation creativity andpassion play out in this upcoming presidential election
The 51st State The State of Online
The presidential election of 2008 will be the first trueldquoInternet electionrdquo Tools resources mainstream mediasites blogs Web sites mashups video podcasts onlinedebates and social networking sites are all available forthe interested citizen to learn as much as they can aboutthe individuals running for president their philoso-phies and vision the problems they see and the solu-tions they offer After all is said and done we the vot-ing public have the responsibility to cast our vote forthat candidate who seems best suited to the difficultand exciting task of leading the nation through chal-lenging and increasing complex situations The tech-nology tools can help us identify our next president mdashuse them embrace them and then make your choicewhen you have the chance
Future articles in this series will cover nonpresidentialcampaigns political issues and other aspects of the tech-nological revolution in American politics
Endnotes
1 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo Survey conducted byOpinion Research Corporation report written by iCrossing p3 (July 2007) [httpwwwicrossingcomresearchhow-america-searches-election-2008php]
2 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 4
3 ldquoHow America Searched Election rsquo08rdquo p 2
4 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo (Aug 2 2007) [httpwwwhuffingtonpostcomrianna-huffingtonbe-a-part-of-huffposts-o_b_58859html]
5 ldquoDemocratic Candidates See the Light The Internetrdquo AndrewStern Reuters (Mon Aug 6 2007) [httpwwwreuterscomarticletopNewsidUSMOL47799120070804feedType=RSSamprpc=22ampsp=true]
6 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 5 (July 12 2007)[httpwwwjournalismorgfilescandidatesitestudypdf]
7 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoElection 2008 Candi-date Web Sites Propaganda or Newsrdquo p 6
8 Andrew Rasiej and Micah L Sifry ldquoGOP lags on the Internetfrontierrdquo Politicocom (Aug 13 2007) [httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories08075359html]
9 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo (Aug6 2007) [httpwwwcioinsightcomarticle201540216756600asp]
10 Edward Cone ldquoElection 2008 The Internet Campaignrdquo
11 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
12 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Network TVrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_networktv_introaspmedia=5]
13 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ldquoInternetNews Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations Viewsof Press Values and Performance 1985ndash2007rdquo (Aug 9 2007) [httppewresearchorgpubs564Internet-news-audience]
14 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Newspapersrdquo
15 Project for Excellence in Journalism ldquoThe State of the NewsMedia 2007 An Annual Report on American Journalism Intromdash Digital Journalismrdquo [httpwwwstateofthemediaorg2007narrative_digital_introaspmedia=2]
16 ldquoRight-Left Alliance Praises ABC amp NBC for Liberating Pres-idential Debate Video Networks join CNN in allowing video tobe legally shared blogged excerpted and YouTubedrdquoMoveOnorg (Aug 8 2007) [httpcivmoveoncomfreedebate070808releasehtml]
17 ldquoYouTube Democratic Presidential Debate Airs On CNNrdquo GregSterling Search Engine Land (July 24 2007) [httpsearchenginelandcom070724-072054php]
18 ldquoBe a Part of HuffPostrsquos Online-Only Presidential CandidateMashuprdquo
19 ldquoHow TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the USAttorney Story Can a mixture of lsquoWeb reportingrsquo and old-fashioned investigative work be the wave of the future forjournalismrdquo Columbia Journalism Review (March 15 2007)[httpwwwcjrorgbehind_the_newshow_talkingpointsmemo_beat_thephp]