Small Donors Take Big Role in Election, Mary Jacoby, WSJ.
Internet giving at the congressional level also is spreading, albeit more slowly. Web sites such as ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democrats, let donors contribute to individual candidates. ActBlue has directed more than $14 million to federal Democratic candidates this election cycle, compared with $16 million for the 2006 congressional elections.
Mr. All, the Republican consultant, started a rival site last October called SlateCard.com. It has raised just $300,000. "What I'm finding is a lot of Republican campaigns are just hiring college kids or using their son who has a Facebook account," said the 28-year-old Mr. All. "They don't understand what this is all about."
Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig Bets 'Wikipedia' Approach Will Transform Congress, Sarah Lai Stirland, Wired.
The Change Congress project's first mission is to diminish the influence of money in the legislative body by influencing the outcome of the 2008 election campaigns of 67 members of congress which are up for grabs. As the Change Congress project founder Larry Lessig noted in the project's launch Thursday afternoon, there haven't been so many seats open up for challenge in more than a decade.
Lessig, known for his decade-long role in trying to loosen the entertainment industry's vice-like grip on popular culture by shaping copyright law, is betting that the energy and dissatisfaction exhibited by voters against the status-quo in Washington DC, and the emergence of collaborative software that enables vast numbers of geographically-dispersed citizens to become politically active on their own schedule, will enable a new kind of transparency and accountability in political campaigns.
Unsurprisingly, Flip has 13% of Camcorder Market, Kristen Nicole, Mashable.
Flip, that tiny digital video camera you can buy at Walgreen’s for just over $100, is reporting a 13% stake in the camcorder market, according to a NewTeeVee report. Is anyone surprised? The handy device has a no-nonsense approach that appeals to anyone, of any age.
McCain Throws Aide Under the Bus for Twittering YouTube Link, Matt Lewis, Townhall.com.
Today, John McCain suspended an aide -- Soren Dayton -- for distributing this controversial YouTube video about Barack Obama and Rev. Wright. As campaigns spokesperson Jill Hazelbaker told Jonathan Martin, Dayton was "reprimanded by campaign leadership."
I defended John McCain when he distanced himself from that radio show host in Ohio who repeatedly invoked Obama's middle name. To me, the radio host was making a tawdry attack, meant to imply Obama was Muslim. And McCain was doing the right thing by not engaging in that sort of campaign.
But this situation is a bit different.
