October 23, 2006

10/23: The Internet's Last Unregulated Cycle?

MyDD's Chris Bowers has been a brilliant idea factory for the netroots this cycle. His latest project seeks to game Google's known link ranking system to place the most unflattering GOP-related articles at the top of the search engine's results whenever a targeted GOP member is searched. So far, Congress and the FEC have taken a pass on regulating political speech on the internet. If projects such as this one (which while ingenious does seek to game the system to influence lower information voters) proliferate, how much longer before internet speech goes the way of broadcast speech?

BLOGGERS VS. BELTWAY: The G-Bomb

Noting studies showing "the number one way that voters use the Internet for political action is to search for information on candidates" MyDD's Chris Bowers is planning to utilize "widespread embedded hyperlinks" and Google Adwords to "Google Bomb[] The Election." Bowers wants to ensure that Google searches, of the names of 70 targeted GOPers, will produce highly placed negative articles from "non-partisan media source[s]" on each candidate. The project has three steps:

• Step One: ... I will compile a list of seventy articles, one for each targeted race. Every article will focus on a different Republican candidate, and will be written by as generally trusted a news source as possible. It will also present as unflattering a view on the Republican candidate as possible.
• Step Two: Once the database is complete, BlogPac will purchase Google Adwords that will place each negative article on the most common searches for each Republican candidate. Simultaneously, I will produce an article on MyDD that embeds that negative article into a hyperlink that names the Republican candidate. I will then send a copy of that post out to as many bloggers as possible, who can also place the post on their blogs. One posting of this article will be enough.
• Step Three: All further discussion of the Republican candidates in question on all participating blogs should include an embedded hyperlink that will increase the Google search rank of the article on the given candidate.

Bowers summarizes: "The result of this should be that the most damning, non-partisan article written on every key Republican candidate for house and Senate will appear both high on every Google search for that candidate, and automatically as an advertisement on every search for that candidate. BlogPac will cover the costs. The netroots will supply the research."

On the right Outside the Beltway adds to Bowers plan: "Step Four: Sharks with lay-zers on their foreheads." OTB also comments: "This will be an interesting test of the theory that search king Google's leftist owners are using their market leading power to intentionally skew search results and news content. Given that this plan to game the system has been publicly announced on a very prominent website (Google PageRank 8) and is being widely publicized elsewhere, it should be a simple task for Google to not only thwart this plan but to ban the participants from their metrics."

BLOGGERS VS. BELTWAY: Every Donation You Make, They'll Be Watching You

MyDD's Chris Bowers new Google Bomb project is not interfering with his earlier "Use It Or Lose It" campaign to encourage Dem incumbents not facing a GOPer to donate 30% of their CoH to Dem challengers or committees. On 10/21 Bowers welcomed MoveOn.org's support to the project and advised readers to utilize another line of attack when calling incumbent Dem offices:

In many cases, Democrats Representatives are saving up their warchests in order to run for Senate or other higher office. ... A good message for callers to convey to the Massachusetts delegation is that the activist community is going to remember who was there for the party when the next Senate vacancy comes.

DEM '08 FIELD: The Lamont Litmus Test

At The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington looks at a Hartford Courantarticle on GOP financial support for Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) and asks: "[W]hat are the Democratic power players doing for Lamont?" Huffington continues: "Claiming scheduling conflicts to justify why they can't campaign for the Democratic nominee. Barack Obama has been on a book tour around the country, but has carefully skipped Connecticut. And Hillary Clinton has also skipped Connecticut, instead sending a $5,000 donation and holding a quiet fundraiser for Lamont on the Upper East Side tonight."

Huffington concludes: "The field for the Democratic presidential nomination is already crowded. ... But why wait until '08? How about standing for something now, when it counts, and stepping up to the plate for Ned Lamont? Those who don't should pay a price down the line. The Lamont litmus test is one we should definitely get behind."

OBAMA: The Lamont Litmus Test In Action

MyDD's Matt Stoller argues a WH '08 run for Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) "would be good for him, good for the party, and good for the country." Stoller hopes a run would force Obama to make tough decisions: "You know, like the choice he made to not go to Connecticut to campaign for Ned Lamont, which we will remember as the unprincipled betrayal of the Democratic Party that it is." Stoller looks forward to engaging Obama "in a debate over policies and ideas" that will "take him down off a pedestal."

Stoller concludes: "Sooner or later, he's going to run smackdab into another brand, say, an Eliot Spitzer, who is good at fighting for his principles. And in that choice, when Obama has to face his first round of negative ads, and his first real negative campaign on a state or national level, does he really want to face the charge that he's a pretty face and an empty suit?"

The Washington Note's Steve Clemons argues Obama is actually running for VP and looks forward to a Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)/Obama ticket.

ROMNEY: No It's Not Russia, Just The People's Republic Of Boston

Under the header "Romney On Verge of Implosion" MI Coolernotes "[t]here have been three consecutive front page stories in the Boston Globe regarding Mormon leadership using the church to assist Romney's campaign. ... Maybe most damaging is that the discussion is outside the realm of perceived bigotry and instead on the basis of IRS violations. ... This is a problem for Mitt Romney that he needs to solve quickly in order to remain a top potential candidate for President."

Ankle Biting Pundits contributor and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) aide Patrick Hynes attacks the Globe for demanding "12 Apostles" member Jeffrey R. Holland "stop helping" Romney. Hynes responds:

As Ty Webb once said to Danny Noonan, "No, this isn't Russia, Danny This isn't Russia, is it?" The 12 Apostles and the Prophet and President of the Mormon Church have every right in the world to take part in the political process and help Mitt Romney if they do it on their own time and without the aid of church resources. What world do the editors of the Globe live in?

LANDSCAPE: Ride The Wave

At Pollster.com Dem pollster Mark Blumenthal examines the predictive value of the generic congressional ballot and quotes fellow Dem. Mark Mellman on the uncertainty this fall:

There's a big anti-Republican wave out there. But that wave will crash up against a very stable political structure, so we won't be sure of the exact scope of Democratic gains until election night. We really don't yet know which is ultimately more important -- the size of the wave or the stability of the structure.

Blumenthal concludes: "Given all this imprecision, why pay attention to the national generic ballot at all? Because comparable national surveys are conducted more often, with larger sample sizes and more rigorous methodologies than many of the surveys we are seeing at the district level. If a last minute change occurs in the national political environment ("the size of the wave") the national surveys will show it first."

In the bellwether KY-03, Blue Grass Report wonders if KDP chairman Jerry Lundergan will allow visiting Pres. Clinton to help push the only Dem "currently ahead in public polls" ex-publisher John Yarmuth (D) over Rep. Ann Northup (R) or "will he try to make the event about himself and his friends?"

Meanwhile, MyDD's Jerome Armstrong compliments the DCCC's Jesse Lee on their "great website" separating Dem challengers into three waves and an "Emerging Races" class for a total of 71 candidates. Armstrong: "That's impressive compared with the last few cycles, we'll have to see how that works out."

Finally, Daily Kos' DemFromCT argues that no matter how fired up the GOP base is, the party's unpopularity with the rest of the country will be their undoing: "There aren't enough evangelicals and conservatives to make up for the missing middle no matter how much money the Republicans pour into the 72 hour project, assuming that Dems come out and vote. And even a small percentage of Rs that don't show will be magnified by the loss of the middle."

LANDSCAPE II: On Diminishing Returns

MyDD's Jonathan Singer is sympathetic to DCCC arguments against moving funds away from top tier races, but still argues the "law of diminishing returns applies to politics, just as it does to economics" and writes: "The next $50,000 or even $500,000 in a campaign that has already seen several million dollars in expenditures by both sides cannot possibly go as far as $50,000 or $500,000 going to a race that that is not, to this point, as engaged."

Singer also looks at Newsweek's new poll on the popularity of Dem "First 100 Hours" agenda and argues that while "I don't think that the Democrats need to have a "Contract with America" ... the Democratic leadership is going to have to do a significantly better job at getting the word out."

LANDSCAPE III: Alcee Your Social Security To Illegals, And Raise You One Intelligence Committee Sleazebag

Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall picks up on the GOP's latest issue: "You don't have to watch the GOP ads around the country too closely to see what their focus group research and polling is telling them is their only winning issue: Mexicans. ... All over the country -- Democratic candidate X wants to raise your taxes to give Social Security to illegals."

On the right, Outside the Beltway picks up on Washington Postreports that the CBC will pressure a Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to place impeached federal judge Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) as head of the int. cmt. and comments:

The Hastings issue is another thing altogether and I'm surprised the Republicans haven't tried to make more hay out of it. For reasons laid out at length in the article, Pelosi is under enormous pressure from the CBC to elevate Hasting. Yet the idea of putting this sleazebag in a position where he would be privy to the most sensitive national security secrets is untenable.

CT SEN: Not So Petty Cash

Lefty bloggers promoted cable exec. Ned Lamont (D) charges Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) misused $387K in cash disbursements before the 8/8 primary. MyDD's Matt Stoller asks: "Was Lieberman buying votes with the money, using the cash as 'street money'?" The unofficial Lamont Blog notes Lieberman's explanation that the "slush fund was used to pay salaries, food, lodging, and transportation of "young kids" doing paid canvassing" and responds: "But "Lodging for Volunteers," "Car Rental for Canvassers," "Food for Staff," a $1,700+ tab for "Food and Beverage" for Tom Lindenfeld (their field guy), multiple payments to temp and staffing agencies, multiple gas receipts for $20 and $30 each, multiple van and bus and car rentals (ground transportation alone accounts for at least $90,000 of their itemized expenses), multiple airfares, and even a $12.99 car wash are all itemized on their FEC report."

After Team Lieberman claimed his lawyers assured the campaign the expenditures complied with campaign finance law, Stoller asks: "Who's the lawyer for Lieberman, because I don't believe that any competent lawyer would say anything of the sort?"

Also plenty of video from CT including Lieberman supporters trying to break up the filming of Lamont's latest ad, Lieberman's latest ad promising to bring home the troops, and DNC chair Howard Deanstumping for Lamont.

MO SEN: Foxy Lady

Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher posts video of Aud. Claire McCaskill's new ad featuring Michael J. Fox and comments: "I'm embarrassed for the nation that a commercial like this is even necessary, and that there are large numbers of ignorant, low-information nutballs out there to whom the truth of this matter in the 21st century isn't patently obvious."

TN SEN: TN Gone Wild

RedState's Erick Erickson writes on Rep. Harold Ford (D-09): "grew up in Washington, D.C., went to school in Pennsylvania, then went to law school in Michigan. He failed the bar exam, got elected to Congress, and headed back to his home in Washington hoping to score with the chicks. It's not exactly a secret that Ford was a swinging bachelor on Capitol Hill -- we're all waiting for the stories of Ford and interns." Erickson then posts two new ex-Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R) ads including one featuring a woman gushing "I met Harold at the Playboy Party." From the left TN Guerilla Women writes: "Yeah, right. With her looks she couldn't get on a Girls Gone Wild video."

Elsewhere, Andrew Sullivan calls Instapundit's Dem-sexual-McCarthyism-Corker-vote explanation "absurd bordering on unhinged." Also Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham posts local coverage of Ford's parking lot confrontation with Corker.

VA SEN: Go Panthers!

Raising Kaine has video of ex-Navy Sec. James Webb at 10/21'a VA-State/VA-Union football game, of a YouTube creation criticizing Sen. George Allen (R) as a rubberstamp, and video of Generation Webb members talking about their Webb support.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Pres. Bush Loves Flags

AMERICAblog's John Aravosis looks at stills from Pres. Bush's This Week interview showing a rainbow colored flag over Bush's right shoulder and writes: "[E]verything this White House does is scripted. There is simply no way that Bush did this interview without his people intentionally choosing to have a rainbow flag right behind his head, framing the entire shot. ... Normally I'd say this is just a hysterical coincidence. But after the White House defending Secretary of State Condi Rice's description of a gay couple as married last week ... I'm smelling a subliminal rat here. ... Then again, it's not like the Bush administration, including the White House, isn't full of gays - so perhaps the pink mafia strikes again."

LEST WE FORGET: Kinky Congressman Kitsch

Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall argues "You haven't truly made a pop cultural impact until you start showing up on eBay." At ebay available Foley Scandal items available include:

• Authentic birthday card from Mark Foley
• Congressman MARK FOLEY Signed 1996 Dole/Kemp Hat AUTH
• Sex Scandal Mark Foley for Congress Campaign Button

Posted by Conn Carroll at October 23, 2006 12:37 PM