1/17: Diggers Vs. Bloggers

Sen. Barack Obama's 1/16 WH announcement is still by far the most popular story on the community-based, news-filtering website, Digg. Like bloggers, Digg readers and promoters seek to bypass more traditional hierarchical news delivery systems (read MSM) to better distribute news that people care about. One might think that the political tastes of the tech savvy Digg readership would match up well with those of lefty blogs, but the Obama phenomenon suggests that is not the case. While John Edwards still tops recent DailyKos WH '08 straw polls he has never garnered nearly as much Digg attention as Obama did.

OBAMA: Face It, They're Just Not That Into You

While the Digg crowd is highly interested in Sen. Barack Obama's 1/16 WH '08 announcement, the bloggers that make up the netroots community, while open to Obama, still voice uneasiness about the freshman senator's "lack of a clear stance on critical issues" and centrist rhetoric. The Huffington Post's RJ Eskow links to past David Sirota cases against Obama here and here and adds: "The left is disappointed with ... his votes for Condi Rice's confirmation and a usurious bankruptcy bill, and his use of religion to separate himself from other Dems (thereby reinforcing the impression that Democrats are too secular for America)." As for Obama's rhetoric, Eskow comments: "I think I understand what he's trying to accomplish, but he's so intent on not being labeled that he risks getting the label he least wants: that of an evasive man, a holographic candidate designed to change in appearance depending on where the viewer stands."

Other reactions include:

• The Left Coaster: "I am getting tired of this ongoing Liebermanesque "different kind of politics" canard. This country has been driven into a ditch, and is being led towards another war in Iran, yet what we get from Lieberman and perhaps now Obama is the salve of a bipartisan "let's just all get along" campfire sing-a-long."
• FiredoglakeTaylor Marsh: "Barack Obama has not been nearly as strong on the escalation, evidently preferring "symbolism" to action, or confusing one as being as strong as the other. (I won't say "I told you so," but I did warn you.) But Obama did strongly push back against escalation after Mr. Bush's speech last week. Certainly the fact that Obama was against the Iraq war from the start helps, but he wasn't in the Senate, so it's difficult to know what he'd have done if he were."
• MyDD diarist TarHeel: "At the risk of inflaming half the audience here and seeing whether I am imagining things, am I the only one who thinks some of the word choice and framing has similarity between Obama and Lieberman? NOT the message or ideology, just the buzz words."
• AMERICAblog's John Aravosis: "One bit of advice for the Obama crowd. Teach your boss to use the word "I." Obama ... kept talking about (and I paraphrase) how "our office was considering that" or how "my staff is looking at that" or how "we are certainly thinking about that." It's no your office, it's not your staff, and it's not we. It's you. It's I.

MyDD's Chris Bowers notes "the first major 2008 candidate forum will be held by AFSCME on February 21" and wonders how any other WH hopeful could steal coverage away from Obama between now and then.

DEM FIELD: Surprisingly, Biden Is High

DailyKos hosted a WH '08 straw poll 1/16. Dems with more than 1% of the 21715 votes cast:

John Edwards 35 %
Barack Obama 28 %
Wesley Clark 17 %
Bill Richardson 5 %
Dennis Kucinich 4 %
Hillary Clinton 4 %

MyDD's Chris Bowers tracks the number of Google News results for the Dem field and comments: "the results seem to fairly clearly indicate that Obama is the buzz leader in both categories, with Clinton and Edwards easily in contention, and Biden surprisingly high."

GORE: Elite Footsie Player

MyDD's Matt Stoller notes that "[w]hile the progressive economy, that of Apple, Microsoft and Google, is a nicer place than, say, Exxon, the elites in those worlds are not held accountable for their behavior anymore than elites in any other part of American society." Stoller reasons Al Gore's "playing footsie with the progressive corporate elite" shows he will not be running for president.

BLOOMBERG: NYC's Only 11th?

RCP Blog's Tom Bevan admits Michael Bloomberg WH '08 rumors are percolating "at a fairly low level," but he still finds the mayor's new $1 billion tax cut "a pretty good idea" for "a moderate, business savvy problem solver who has done an effective job of managing a city with a population equivalent to the 11th largest state in America."

BROWNBACK: Blogs4SocialConservativeAlternative

The Corner's Kathryn Jean Lopez tells readers to expect Sam Brownback and Duncan Hunter at 3/22's "Blogs4Life" conference at the Family Research Council.

BUSH: Bush Brand Barren

The Corner's Peter Robinson celebrates Jeb Bush's tax-reducing, education- and health care-reforming, crisis-handling tenure as FL gov and identifies the only stumbling block between Jeb and the WH: "His name." Robinson advises: "Bush can change his name to 'Humperdinck,' or we conservatives can start a petition to let him know we'll support him no matter what he calls himself."

Fellow CorneriteKathryn Jean Lopez chips in: "I do have to say that I am simply fascinated that Jeb is speaking at the NRI Conservative Summit. I'm looking forward to what he has to say, for sure. But I'm even more interested in why! Maybe he doesn't just look at the White House as a place his dad and brother lived but somewhere he could....?"

GIULIANI: Can't Buy Him Love

IA's Caucus Cooler rubs Mitt Romney's nose in news ex-Rep./'06 IA GOV nominee Jim Nussle signed with Rudy Giuliani noting the Romney-led RGA gave over $1.2M to Nussle's campaign and "Romney's PAC gave over 100K to Nussle, making him the single largest PAC contributor to the Nussle campaign." CC adds: "Given those facts, doesn't this Giuliani coup sting a little bit for Romney? You'd think all of that $$$ might have gotten him a little farther."

TANCREDO: He's Got Fleas

RedState's Leon Wolf highlights a American Spectatorarticle examining Tom Tancredo's "financial backers," including the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). AmSpec reminds readers of "the group's pro-abortion and pro-eugenics roots." Wolf adds: "Tancredo clearly aims to take the majority of his support from social conservatives in the upcoming 2008 race. ... he's apparently been laying down with Margaret Sanger types for a very long time, and nevermind the fleas."

RNC CHAIR: Apparently, Corner Readers Don't Like John McCain

Readers of conservative blog fave The Corner can't miss the blaring top banner ad: "StopMartinez.com" The site is sponsored by "English First" and includes a list of "five good reasons why Republican Party National Committeemen and Committeewomen should reject the [Mel] Martinez nomination."

• Reason One: The RNC Chairman should unite the Republican Party. Mel Martinez divides the GOP.
• Reason Two: Mel Martinez's impressive personal story as a Cuban immigrant will not attract other Hispanic voters to the GOP.
• Reason Three: Mel Martinez is part of John McCain's kitchen cabinet.
• Reason Four: The main jobs of the RNC Chairman are to win elections for the GOP and raise money. The Martinez record is less than impressive in both of these categories.
• Reason 5: The General Chairman of the Republican National Committee faces an extremely busy 2007 and 2008.

NRSC: We Want Elway!

NRSC Chair John Ensign (R-NV) appeared on Hugh Hewitt's radio show 1/16. According to Hewitt, Ensign "reported that recruitment efforts in the five targeted states where Dems hold the chair -- Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas, and Louisiana -- are going well, and that the GOP senators targeted by the Dems, including [Gordon] Smith in Oregon, [Norm] Coleman in Minnesota, and [John] Sununu in New Hampshire, are already hard at work raising the funds and assembling the volunteer networks they will need. The open seat in Colorado has a number of excellent candidates looking at making the race."

HOUSE '08: Blogger See, Blogger Do

Reminding readers that part of RedState's mission is "to take the fight to the left" Erick Erickson premiered a new "Freshman Targets" "subcategory" of RedState that will "start posting on various freshman Democrats who are in Republican leaning districts."

First up: "Dr. Millionaire," freshman Dem Steve Kagan." Erickson explains: "Mr. Kagan claimed last week to have gone to a White House party only to confront Karl Rove in the bathroom, slam Vice President Cheney, and insult Laura Bush in front of her and her husband as a way to hack off the President. ... Mr. Kagan should remember that his district leans Republican and his behavior, coupled with his votes this past week for America's Mother-in-Law's lefty agenda will win him few friends in his district."

HOUSE '06: Robust Dems Beat Dropped-Off GOP

James at Swing State Project tabulates the top ten non-party independent expenditure's on the GOP side and notes: "Aside from a few big players (most notably the National Realtors PAC, ...), there is a steep drop-off on the Republican side in terms of the number and quality of IEs relative to the robust and broadly-focused expenditures made by Democratic-allied PACs. ... Another thing to note is that these Republican expenditures are listed as disproportionately positive, while the Democratic expenditures were disproportionately classified as negative expenditures."

BLOGGERS VS. BELTWAY: Where Were You '02?

Linking to a 1/12 Matt Stollerpost on the need for public financing of elections, DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas tells readers it's "time to revisit CFR" explaining he's "tired of 70's-style solutions to the problems of today's world." Kos goes on to explain "the problem" with the "reformer groups" in DC: "In their minds, money is inherently evil. Their efforts are predicated on the impossible -- getting money out of politics. But as Stoller notes, that just ain't gonna happen, Buckley or not. All speech costs money of some sort these days. Even getting yourself to a street protest costs money (gas or transit)."

Kos concludes: "I would argue that the problem is when money is used to drown out competing voices. ... I'm not advocating anything (yet) except a restatement of why we should regulate campaign finance, and from there, a rewrite of regulations that are internally consistent, pass the common sense test, allow maximum participation in the political process without an army of lawyers and consultants, and maximize the free speech rights we are guaranteed under the Constitution."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of YouTube

Buzz Machine's Jeff Jarvis has a request for World Economic Forum attendees in Davos, Switzerland in '07: "I hope that many of you will record video questions and thoughts to send to Davos, putting them up on YouTube tagged "davos07." Jarvis explains: "This is part of the World Economic Forum's attempt to open the conversation from Davos to the world and vice versa. I also think it's a good opportunity to bring together more voices and viewpoints in a sort of virtual Davos on YouTube. ... I want to hear more voices down from the mountains of Davos, voices from around the world. And I think video is a very powerful means to deliver these questions and messages: questions, comments, ideas, pleas."

LEST WE FORGET: Another SNL Spin-Off

Comedy Central Insider intros a video compilation of CSI one-liners reminding readers old enough to remember of a 1990 SNL sketch featuring Jimmy Smits as "a cop who reversed everything his partner said to sound smart and suspicious" and offers this example:

Partner: Well, anyway, we solved the case. I guess that's what really matters.

Smits: Well.. did we solve the case? Or.. did the case solve us?

CCI concludes: "Anyway, a decade and some change went by and some smarty-pants at CBS decided to rip that sketch off and turn it into the most watched TV show in the entire world."