1/29: Results Unclear

Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) internet director, Peter Daou sent out a press release 1/26 trumpeting HRC's "Internet Strategy & Initial Results." Daou writes: "One of the lessons learned from recent campaigns is that the candidate who makes smart use of the Internet in 2008 will have a decided edge. Just one week into our campaign, Hillary for President has used the web to announce Hillary's candidacy. ... The result thus far has been this: Supporters are flocking to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign website at an historic rate. All told, over 200,000 people have participated in the conversation in the first week."

Basd on publicly available information, it's impossible to compare the 200K "people [who] have participated in the conversation" with other campaign's online efforts. But what is available suggests that HRC is outpacing her competitors in online communication. According to web traffic tracker Alexa HRC's official site recently crested at 39M daily page views (compared to a 13M high for Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and 11M for John Edwards), and is currently at 9 daily page views (1M for Obama and 2M for Edwards).

But more importantly, notice what Daou does not claim. He writes: "Blog and Online Community Response: Hillary received positive coverage on blogs, message boards, and other online forums, and the campaign placed Blogads on hundreds of blogs from across the political spectrum." This is all true; positive things have been said about HRC. However, Daou does not mention if there were any negative HRC blog reaction, or if the good responses outnumbered the positive. Team Clinton's online strategy has indeed been 'clever' but it has had little effect on solid negative opinions of her held by established lefty bloggers. Whether her online efforts can positively influence the less engaged remains to be seen. But so far her message is definitely getting out there.

CLINTON: Getting The Band Back Together

Despite some praise for Hillary Clinton's 1/28 call for Pres. Bush "to extricate our country from [Iraq] before he leaves office," left-leaning bloggers are still highly critical of HRC's handling of the issue. Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher compares HRC to a "weather vane" while Matthew Yglesias worries Clinton will be easily pegged as a "flip-flopper." More importantly to Yglesias though: "I don't take it as a good sign that she seems determined to position herself as the "most hawkish" of the major contenders in the race. A reflexive desire to appear tough was, pretty clearly, a major factor in the mistakes of the past . . . I'd like to see a president who's over that."

More towards the center, an Andrew Sullivan/'GOP voters open to voting for HRC "given her hawkish foreign policy positions and her DLC-style fiscally prudent, socially tolerant domestic policy" nevertheless was turned off by her recent 'conversation' videos: "In a rush of nostalgic animosity, the visceral distaste for Hillary Rodham that I cultivated during the '90s when coming of age politically as a libertarian-style conservative returned. If anyone could "get the band back together" on the right for just one more election, it's her."

Finally, Buzz Machine praises Team Clinton's 'clever' use of Yahoo Answers to discuss health care policy, noting 'more 37,000' posts were made to the forum and commenting: "Of course, she could have done this on her own site. But by going elsewhere - by being a distributed candidate - she gets more people, more attention."

EDWARDS: Neocons Claim Another Victim

The Left Coaster's Steve Soto shared his opinion on two anti-John Edwards entries, buzzing "inside the center-left blogosphere." Soto could care less about news of Edwards new "big house" but was troubled by Edwards "recent pandering (my choice of words) to the Jewish lobby." Soto links to reports where "Edwards ridiculously said that a nuclear Iran is the biggest challenge in our generation" and responds: "This is utter bullsh*t and reveals a serious lack of proportion and judgment. ... For Edwards to swallow the NeoCon Kool-Aid on Iran to prove his bona fides to the Jewish lobby only shows he isn't ready for prime time."

MyDD's Matt Stoller hits Edwards on both the house and the Iran issue, but then backtracks both criticisms. On the house issue: "You see, criticizing a candidate, one of ours, who has legally made a lot of money and lives in a nice home for some sort of hypocrisy is a baseless character attack, and I'm ashamed that I reiterated it." On Iran: "I get that some rhetorical heat is necessary, but Edwards attended a very neocon conference while other Democrats did not, and spoke aggressively about Iran. This is going to happen. There are going to be places our candidates are going to feel the need to make compromises, compromises that we might find abhorrent. The right capitalizes on this."

South Carolina '08's Laurin Manning reports switching the first 'i' and 'u' when trying to reach rudygiuliani.com redirects readers to www.JohnEdwards.com. Manning identifies MD Dem Steve Silverman as the "wily Democratic operative" behind the effort and comments: "This kinda stunt is bush-league. Edwards' campaign ought to order the owner of the deceptive URL to break the forwarding to Edwards' site."

Finally, Elizabeth Edwards tells official John Edwards blog readers: "We built a highly energy efficient house. In fact, our home is Energy-Star rated."

SEBELIUS: Keeping A Woman On The Ticket

DailyKos' Devilstower finds KS Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) "Funny, sharp-witted, and quick on her feet" snd suggests "she could turn out to be the ideal VP for anyone at the top of the ticket" but especially "should John Edwards grab the nomination" since "after a season in which minority candidates and a prominent female candidate have dominated the news, a final ticket that looks just like every other ticket (save one) might prove not just disappointing, but disaffecting."

GOP FIELD: Isn't This Kos' Position?

Noting early pressure on bloggers to endorse an '08 choice Captain's Quarters advises his blogger brethren "to refrain from identifying with any one candidate until we get much closer to the primaries." CQ reasons: "Perhaps the greatest reason for restraint is to make sure that our voices are heard on the issues rather than the candidates. Affiliated blogs will find themselves with less influence among other candidates, and for me, I'm more interested in the policies than I am in the personalities."

RedState's Moe Lane seconds CQ's suggestion: "Right now I think it makes a good deal more sense for all of us to first decide what it is that we want in a candidate - and what we can live with, and what we can't - and then start measuring our candidates and see whether or not they fit."

BUSH: The Conservative Bush

The Corner's Kathryn Jean Lopez describes her lunch with ex-FL Gov. Jeb Bush at the NRI Conservative Summit as a "lunch with a conservative Bush" writing: "and that means limited government, and that is how he governed Florida." RedState's Pejman Yousefzadeh wishes Jeb had been the '00 GOP nominee explaining that then conservatives "wouldn't have to suffer through the indignity of watching a Republican President dramatically increase the size of government past Johnsonian levels."

Bloggers weren't the only one taking shots at the current administration. K-Lo quotes Jeb: "I'm not going to criticize the president of the United States. ... I like Justice Roberts. I like Justice Alito"

GINGRICH: Desperately Seeking Someone

Calling Newt Gingrich "an ideas man with a real endearing wonky sense about him" K-Loreports Gingrich told those NRI summit goers asking him to run, "If you're so desperate for someone ... find someone." Video here.

GIULIANI: Willing The Case For Rudy

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) aide Patrick Hynes at Ankle Biting Pundits posts video of Rudy Giuliani speaking in NH 1/27 and comments: "His speech was a little too broad and general in scope, but given that at present he is only exploring a run for the presidency, I suppose he deserves a pass for now. Overall, his speech was pretty good, I thought. And the crowd really enjoyed him."

Instapundit links to Giuliani aide Patrick Ruffini fed video of George Will making "the conservative case for Giuliani."

HUCKABEE: Nanny Statist In Chief

Ex-AR Gov. Mike Huckabee received a very chilly reception for conservative bloggers following his 1/28 Meet The Press announcement. Next to a photo of Richard SimmonsRedState 's Erick Erickson says "This One Sucks More Than Most" and explains his displeasure with Huckabee: "You too can support a guy who has no problem raising taxes, hiking the minimum wage, spends his time doing rice commercials, called No Child Left Behind the greatest education reform in his lifetime, wants to ban trans fats, thinks the government needs to up the funding of Phys. Ed. classes, and has a host of other nanny-statist ideas."

Townhall's Matt Lewis is also not impressed: "Personally, I've had enough of this country fried, mega-church conservatism, mixed with good 'ol boy populist imagery, and a pinch of preachy-ness, to last a lifetime. But that's just me." Back at RedStateRob Bluey pressed Huckabee on taxes at the NRI summit, but Huckabee refused to take an anti-tax pledge.

MCCAIN: That Lefty Sam Brownback

After asking John McCain if the 21K troops slated for Iraq would be more effective if deployed in Afghanistan Arianna Huffington reports McCain "equated those opposing his position with 'the far left.'" Arianna shot back in front of the Davos, Switzerland audience: "Do you consider Sam Brownback part of the far left?" McCain declined to answer saying "a civil discussion" was only possible if Arianna would stop interrupting.

Back in the states, McCain IA Coalitions Dir. Marlys Popma answered questions from Race4'08 including:

• What specifically led you to join Senator McCain's campaign?
• I based my decision on the following factors: willingness to sign pro-life legislation; a belief that marriage is between one man and one woman; electability; honesty/consistency on the issues; fiscal discipline; foreign policy experience necessary to fight the War on Terror; and most importantly the conviction to appoint justices to all levels of the judiciary who will understand that it is their duty to interpret the Constitution - not to legislate from the bench. Based on these factors, I knew that Senator McCain was the clear choice."
• Can you give us some insight into how you plan to make inroads with Iowa So-Cons?
• The first thing we must do is to "introduce" social conservatives to John McCain, the real John McCain, not the one they think they know.

On the left, Dem consultant Cliff Schecterunveiled "a new blog called The Real McCain. It will keep track of the good senator's many prevarications, flip-flops and Bush-hugging. Go have a looksy if you will." And Laurin Manning notes McCain supporter Facebook efforts have not been nearly as successful as Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).

ROMNEY: Swing And A Miss In DC, But A Home Run In Dubuque

Unabashed Mitt Romney fan Kathryn Jean Lopezadmits Romney "missed an opportunity" with his 1/27 address to NRI's Conservative Summit. K-Lo explains: "He said a lot of great things, but in a long and at times wonky speech ... in a dinner speech that mentioned bond caps, he didn't make the case for Romney 2008 in a rallying way. It was off the cuff - which gave it some authenticity, but no structure." Video of Romney at NRI here.

Power Line's Paul Mirengoff had a similar reaction: "Romney spoke well. He was likeable throughout and dynamic at times. During his best moments, he almost sounded Reaganesque. ... However, the speech struck me (and some of our readers to whom I spoke afterwards) as too long and a bit rambling. Moreover, the best bits -- his powerful recitation of our strengths as a people, his strong explication of jihadism -- came late." On the other hand RedState's Haystack was not impressed but left his reasons why to "a subsequent article."

IA's conservative blogs had nothing but good things to say about Romney's showing in Waterloo, IA and Dubuque, IA. Caucus Cooler writes: "We can't conceive of a situation where any of the other non-celebrity (McCain/Rudy/Obama/Clinton) candidates could have achieved that goal. Romney's team in Iowa continues to reinforce their organization strength and we will continue to monitor whether or not he can keep up this torrid pace." Krusty Konservative adds: "The Romney campaign continues to do all the right things. While McCain and Rudy are better known, Romney's aggressive approach in Iowa should pay off."

HAGEL: No Movement Here

Linking to a Newsweekprofile of Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) Captain's Quarters labels Hagel "The New McCain" and writes: "he's an almost perfect replacement for McCain. He's McCain, but against the war -- a candidate on whom the media can shower all of the affection they used to have for McCain." CQ explains he is no fan though: "I'm actually not a Hagel hater. ... Quite frankly, the sudden media love affair makes Hagel look like a grandstander, and given his efforts to form a presidential campaign, somewhat of an opportunist."

The Huffington Post's Ari Melber takes the Washington Post to task for reporting "An Internet "draft Hagel" movement has formed." Melber refutes: "But the article's only evidence for this Internet "movement" is a pro-Hagel column by esteemed liberal journalist Robert Scheer, posted at the web magazine Truthdig.com. ... So why was a project with no dedicated website, no supporter lists and no organizing events declared an Internet movement on the front page of the most important political newspaper in the country?"

IRAQ: Kucinich's Crowd

Plenty of lefty bloggers turned out to cover 1/27's anti-Iraq war march. Reports include:

• DailyKos' Timroff: "Why on earth do we let celebrities open their mouths? Sure, it's important to know that famous people support what we're doing, but don't give them the mike. They just sound stupid."
• AMERICAblog's John Aravosis: "Turnout was very good. I don't buy "a quarter of a million," but 50,000 yes. this was clearly an anti-war crowd rather than an anti-Iraq-war crowd (I consider myself among the latter)."
• MyDD's Adam Connor: "It seemed like really good turnout and it was a beautiful day. Jerome noted the other day that Sam Brownback was king of the Pro-Life March in DC the other day and in a corollary to that, I saw a lot of Kucinich 2008 posters around (he spoke earlier in the day)."
• DailyKos' Theatides101: "From uniformed marching bands to Hip-Hoppers against the war, to people on stilts and old ladies in wheelchairs, from "Republicans Against The War" to "Socialists Against Corporate Imperialism", from every section of the political spectrum we were there in force."
• Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher: "Don't get me wrong, I admire all of those who showed up who were willing to publicly speak out against the war, and believe that their willingness to do so despite knowing that they will be demonized by the right wing noise machine is extremely admirable. But with a war opposed now by some 75% of the country, I'm not sure having it promoted as a "fringe left" cause was the absolute best plan."

IRAQ II: 27,500 GOPers Can't Be Wrong

Townhall's Hugh Hewitt reports 27.5K GOP activists have signed a pledge not to support GOP senators voting against an Iraq surge. Hewitt quotes a reader explaining why it is not good politics to join Dems on the war now:

Republicans as a whole --- not just "the base" --- overwhelming favor the President's approach. So I am utterly baffled why the leadership thinks it is politically wise to pursue a strategy of undermining the effort. If they think that the Democrats and Independents who oppose the war are suddenly going to look at a Republican who supported it for three years and then voted for a weasely non-binding resolution second-guessing the President's strategy and say "Oh! He's seen the light, I'll vote for him now instead of that Democrat who's agreed with me all along on the war" --- they're delusional.

Hewitt closes with a call for readers to "call, fax, or write Senators McConnell, Lott, Kyl, Ensign, McCain, Warner, and Cornyn --the seven senators at the center of the debate, and Senators Gordon Smith of Oregon and Norm Coleman of Minnesota" and "[u]rge them to refuse cloture on all resolutions. Urge them as well to enter this week's debate demanding support for the troops and a rejection of the resolution dance that, according to General Petraeus and Secretary Gates, encourages the enemy."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Weapons Of Search Engine Distortion

MyDD's Chris Bowers links to Google Webmaster promises to improve their analytic tools to minimize "the impact of many Googlebombs" and admits "it appears that the search engine optimization techniques that I employed in those actions do actually fit the definition of a Googlebomb."

Despite Google's efforts however, Bowers promises to continue his search engine optimization programs: "Given that Internet searches for candidate information remain the most common form of political action taken online, it will remain crucially important for campaigns and activists alike to continuously be developing new strategies that will allow them to take advantage of online searches. Rest assured that I will do whatever I can to constantly be developing new techniques in this area myself."

LEST WE FORGET: Does Illinois Even Want Gary?

Tired of typical politician sporting bets, The Extrapolter proposes some "wager[s] with teeth" including:

• If the Bears win, the Governor of Indiana will officially cede any claim to the disputed territory of Gary, Indiana.
• If the Colts win, Illinois will officially cede the border town of Carmi, and the world-famous statue of Big John.
• If Chicago wins, the Bears will pay travel, meal, and accommodation expenses for Mayor of Indianapolis to attend the Oprah Winfrey Show on Makeover day.
• If Indianapolis wins, the Chicago Tourism Commission will give Colts players, coaches, and front-office members the Ferris Bueller tour of Chicago, including a free Abe Froman sausage platter to take home.