- For a glimpse of the sorts of questions that will arise in next week's YouTube/CNN debate, be sure to check out YouTube's site. The number of video submissions, which close on Sunday the 22nd, have reached 1700.
- As his campaign blog points out, Joe Biden, demanded results from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. Biden said: "We’re not staying, Mr. Ambassador, we’re not staying. We don’t have much time. Political benchmarks better be met, or we’re in real trouble because we’ll have traded a dictator for chaos.”
- Ron Paul is going to be profiled in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine. His campaign website has a preview. If you can't wait for Sunday's profile, check out this video of Ron Paul speaking in Las Vegas. (On a side note: Gov. Mike Huckabee might be a great musician in his own right, but playing Tears for Fears in his YouTube video gives Congressman Paul some cred.)
- Two interesting articles, one by JFK speechwriter and advisor Ted Sorenson and the other by JFK biographer Richard Reeves, are featured on Barack Obama's blog.
- Related note: Be sure to read Matt Bai's article on the experience of the current candidates in the race for the White House. Bai notes in the piece that, "At no time in modern history, however, have the crowded fields of both parties been so dominated by relative newcomers."
- In a speech on foreign policy in Des Moines, IA, Bill Richardson focused on issues like diplomacy and immigration. Read more in the Des Moines Register.
- Fulfilling the latest of his 12 Commitments, Rudy Giuliani unveiled his plan towards energy independence. Feel free to comment on Giuliani's plan (and/or his commitments in general) below.
- As Jonathin Martin points out in The Politico, Mitt Romney once supported similar age-appropriate sex education that Barack Obama supports. Yet he's lambasting Obama over his stance. How history has come to check present-day Mitt...
- Pleading him not to wait for the next hurricane, John Edwards encouraged President Bush to use his remaining time in office to tackle poverty in this letter. I wonder if the President reflecting his time on his Road to One America tour.
- The McCain campaign highlights the support of its intrepid New Hampshire following in the YouTube video below:
For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.
- In response to inquiries from the O'Reilly Factor, Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd issued statements on their campaign's participation in YearlyKos. Media Matters has background on what prompted these statements here.
- Mitt Romney challenges Barack Obama's call for sex-education in Kindergarten in this YouTube video. Jeff Jarvis from PrezVid says that "even the Christian Broadcasting Network gave Obama a fairer shake."
- Be sure to check Joe Klein's articlein Time entitled "Joe Biden's Quest." In it, Klein states:
Biden's message—that foreign policy is complicated, that Iraq and its consequences can't just be wished away, that a supple alternative to Republican overseas bullying must be found—is the most important of 2008. And it is the reason Joe Biden still adds real value to this campaign.
- The support Barack Obama's campaign has received from Iowans is the focus of this article in the Des Moines Register - something I'm sure the campaign welcomes in addition to the Obama for Commander in Chief tour, which is helping spread Obama's name across the Hawkeye State.
- Chris Cillizza describes his interview with John Edwards on his blog, The Fix. The interview is also featured in the Washington Post, co-written by Dan Balz.
For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.
- Both Barack Obama and John Edwards gave speeches on poverty. Obama's focused on urban poverty at Town Hall Education Arts and Recreation Center (THEARC) in DC. Edwards spoke in Kentucky. I'll post direct links to the speeches when they're available.
- John McCain gave a speech today to the national convention of Christians United for Israel. Read it here.
- For those who believe in predictions, check out "Political Futures", Slate's comprehensive guide to all the big political prediction markets.
- Once more, candidates are using video to express their views on Iraq: Governor Bill Richardson calls for a new plan for Iraq in his latest TV ad entitled "Stand Up"; Chris Dodd discusses ending funding for the War in NH this past Sunday; and Hillary Clinton is sending a DVD to Iowa Democrats laying out, among other things, her plan for Iraq.
- Rudy Giuliani, who is in YouTube's YouChoose spotlight, announced his Georgia Regional Chairs. Here's hoping these announcements don't come back to haunt him.
- In advance of the Logo Network forum, Mike Gravel's posted a clip of him marching in the SF Gay Parade. Gravel states he was the only candidate who marched. (More on who was involved in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle).
- Elizabeth Edwards is featured in John Edwards' new TV ad entitled "30 years."
- Here is video of Bobby Schindler, Terry Schiavo's Brother, endorsing Sam Brownback for President.
- Unrelated Sam Brownback news: Brownback recently criticized Mitt Romney's new TV ad, "Ocean". Brownback argues that the ad's message is contradictory because of Romney's time on the board of Marriott International, a hotel which offers "in-room pornography." Check out "Ocean" below:
For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.
As most of you know, the YearlyKos Convention is around the corner. The Netroots community will be gathering from August 2-5 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois. And NDN will be joining them, as our work will be well-represented at the Convention. Currently, our staff will be participating in the following panels:
- As most of you know, Jim Gilmore ended his run for the presidency.
- The controversial conversation between Hillary Clinton and John Edwards after the NAACP forum has not gone away just yet. The Committee for a Unified Independent Party wrote a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean encouraging him to allow all candidates to participate in the debates. Joe Biden's blog weighed in as well.
- In this short YouTube video, Barack Obama is shown in Manchester, IA discussing what the 1st District of Iowa would gain by ending the war in Iraq. Be sure to watch the reactions of those in the audience as Obama goes through the itemized list.
- Ron Paul is the latest candidate to sit down for a Talk at the Google campus as part of its Candidates@Google series.
- John Edwards kicked off his "Road to One America" tour over the weekend with a trip to the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. (Note: Edwards announced he was running for President in the 9th Ward.)
- Through his Justice Advisory Committee, Rudy Giuliani will tout his support from conservative judges and legal advocates.
- Hillary Clinton kicked off her "Ready to Change, Ready to Lead" tour in New Hampshire over the weekend. Click here for more from the campaign's blog.
- Chris Dodd spoke at the Utah Democratic Party's Convention over the weekend. Check out his remarks in the video below:
For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.
A fantastic article from the San Antonio Express-News picks up on the same argument we at NDN have been making: the politics of immigration are not helping the GOP. It even touches on our argument about the political implications of the immigration debate, relative to the Hispanic electorate:
This bodes ill for a national Republican Party seeking to keep the presidency and regain control of Congress. And the shift among Latinos could be even more disastrous for the GOP than many realize.
Latino voters are most significant in the four most populous — and most elector-rich — states: California, Texas, New York and Florida. Of these, only New York isn't expected by demographers to gain congressional seats through 2030.
In addition to increasing naturalization applications, the article also cites the Hispanic community's response to the harsh rhetoric surrounding the immigration debate, which has caused a wave of mobilization among its voters. This is grounds for serious concern among GOP politicians as to the future of their party:
But a more significant reason for the spike is that increasingly, nasty anti-immigrant rhetoric — and the collapse of the U.S. Senate's immigration reform package — is prompting many immigrants to bolster their legal protections by becoming American citizens while they still can.
And even if several Democrats voted to kill the immigration reform package, the likely beneficiaries of this new crop of highly motivated new voters will be Democrats.
While this is encouraging, this is not reason to be content. As we at NDN have said, we must move forward.
- There is a lot of commentary coming from the Democratic candidates on the Iraq War. For those who may have missed it, here is Hillary Clinton's plan for ending the war. Joe Biden took his feelings on Iraq to the floor of the Senate in this video.
- Most likely an effort to counter the honest efforts of New York City firefighters, Rudy Giuliani released a statement touting his support from FDNY Commissioner Howard Safir and re-emphasizing his work on behalf of all firefighters.
- On a much lighter note, Barack Obama shares his thoughts on the upcoming Harry Potter book in this YouTube video.
- More on Rudy Giuliani: the New York Times has an interesting article on the impact of Senator David Vitter's association with the "D.C. Madam" on Giuliani's campaign.
- Governor Bill Richardson is in the YouChoose spotlight with the video below. As a former US Secretary of Energy, Richardson asks the YouTube community if it has the next big idea on energy.
For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.
As we at NDN and the New Politics Institute often emphasize, the advent of new technology continues to reinvent politics. The ability to reach and speak to various groups of people has become easier because of emerging tools and strategies like microtargeting, an extremely sophisticated way of maximizing the relevance of a candidate's message to their desired audience.
Microtargeting has become more and more of an asset in politics due to its potential to yield results - results which have caught the eyes of presidential campaigns like Mitt Romney's. And the media has begun to pick up on it. This June article from the New York Times mentions Romney's use of microtargeting as part of his broader advertising strategy. More recently, Chris Cillizza from the Washington Post did an in-depth analysis of the Romney campaign's use of microtargeting, the follow-up to which is featured today on Cillizza's blog, The Fix.
These articles underscore the value of being able to deliver consumer-specific messages. This is why we also recommend using techniques like search advertising and spending advertising dollars on cable instead of broadcast television.
- Be sure to check out MoveOn's Virtual Town Hall, featuring the Democratic candidates views and policies on climate.
- Ron Paul not only has more cash on hand than John McCain, but also more views on his YouTube channel. (Update: Barack Obama now has 7.3 million views and Ron Paul has 2.2 million)
- Like many of the candidates, John Edwards promoted Live Earth over the weekend.
- Barack Obama launched a new blog on his website dedicated to health care policy. Its purpose is to invite "Americans across the country to engage in an open discussion of America's health care system."
- Rudy Giuliani is all about fiscal discipline and cutting taxes according to recent speeches he gave in Jacksonville, FL and Savannah, GA.
- In a recent video interview, Joe Biden discussed a range of issues including his views on the recent immigration bill, Fred Thompson, and the Iraq War and Republican defection over it.
- Dennis Kucinich released a statement taking Hillary Clinton to task for her participation (or lack thereof, according to Kucinich) in a United Steelworkers conference that took place in Kucinich's native Cleveland. In the same statement, he praised John Edwards for his position on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
- Team Tancredo officially launched Tancredo's Take on YouTube.
For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.
An article in the New York Times today highlights, once again, the broken state of our immigration system. At issue is a breakdown in communication between the State Department and the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) on an announcement that it would issue green cards to legal immigrants on temporary visas. Those applying, who "had obtained federal certification that no American workers were available for the jobs they hold," were then told that no visas were available. From the article:
A national association of immigration lawyers said yesterday that it would bring a class-action lawsuit against the federal immigration agency for refusing to accept thousands of applications for work-based permanent visas from highly skilled immigrants who were encouraged by the government to apply.
The hopes of thousands of foreigners who have been working legally in the United States were unexpectedly raised and then abruptly dashed as a result of the disagreement. They had responded last month to an announcement that permanent residency visas would be available, but on Monday learned there were none.
The immigration lawyers said the about-face by the immigration system had no precedent in at least three decades of legal practice, and said that it violated the immigration agency’s regulations.
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