Thursday, January 22, 2004

Bowles Blog: "Is Meetup necessary for a single state race?" Good question. I think that in local races, a candidate can use a weblog and comments for oganization. (Hoggard might have thoughts on this.) But in a big state like NC, Meetup could still be one tool among others for getting people together. Meetup alone is not adequate, statewide or nationally. The point is the meeting, not how the meeting is scheduled. From what I know, lots of people at Meetups find out about them offline. 2:32:39 PM    comment []

Is Oliver Willis going to switch back to Edwards? Not yet. O-dub is still dancing with Dean, but his eyes are definitely wandering around the room. And maybe it's the light, or that second glass of punch, but damn, his old flame looks nice. Oliver bailed on Edwards last summer, in part because his campaign wasn't doing enough online. Now Oliver is thinking electability...and meanwhile Edwards has continued to build his online capabilities... Freda Payne: "Love me like you tried before." 2:26:12 PM    comment []

Josh Marshall: "the Internet funding model which Dean spearheaded and Clark picked up, changes the dynamic in a fundamental way...it creates a much more frictionless universe of political giving where a big rush of support could be quickly harvested in the form of political cash." Yes. This is an area where the Internet's speed and ubiquity transforms a timeless element of political campaigns. Money will always matter, that's something the Net doesn't change. But you can get money in new ways that change the rules of the game. That's why it was so smart for Kerry to make sure that JohnKerry.com address was highly visible on Monday night. Not so people would say, oh, he's got one of those Internets, too, they're all the rage and changing politics forever. But so that anyone who wanted to could go to the address and in minutes contribute to his campaign (and find out how to volunteer, etc.) Edwards raised a lot of money early. If he's strong in SC, he could raise a lot more money in a hurry. And then he can say on his weblog, look at how much we raised yesterday, help us raise more tomorrow. Josh also says that Edwards is mesmerizing on the stump, but didn't leave a lasting impression. I find that our Senator is much better in person than on TV, but still better on TV than most other people, including (to damn Edwards with faint praise) Bush. 12:47:29 PM    comment []

"The Think! flag was created by the writer and software developer Dave Winer in the days after 9/11. 'It's the combination of love, strength and thought, which is the best of the USA,' Winer wrote at the time on his Internet journal, Scripting News. The image is unabashedly pro-American, and the challenge to exercise our brains and our freedom to use them is bracing." (N&R column, 4/21/02). 12:28:24 PM    comment []

Conservative Canadian web antics: Belinda Stronach, a candidate for Conservative Party leadership, bought Google ads keyed to the names of her opponents, and launched a website of her own that has been described as both "engaging" and looking like "porn spam." 9:02:04 AM    comment []

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has a weblog, FromTheRoots.org. Senator Jon Corzine: "I have been inspired by the success of pioneering online communities like MoveOn.org and the Democratic presidential campaigns." 8:46:47 AM    comment []

I'd seen the ads -- brawny guys shot in black and white, expressing their surprise that the new Hardee's ThickBurger is so darn good. I was skeptical, just like the guys in the ads, except in color, and less brawny. Being a native North Carolinian, I know from a lifetime of experience that Hardees, well, sucks, except for the biscuits and (at selected locations) fried chicken. But it was 1:30 and I'd worked through lunch again so I went to the drive-thru Hardees on Market and got me the smallest ThickBurger they would shove through the window, the 1/3 pounder, hold the bacon and cheese and prions, please. It was good. Not just bigger than a Wendy's single, but better -- probably the best fast-food burger around. Ample enough that you can skip the fries and convince yourself it's a healthy meal. Truth in advertising. Decent food at Hardees. What's next? Probably Hardees switching to cheaper beef, or discontinuing the product. 8:31:36 AM    comment []

Tom Friedman: "Without a serious Democratic critique of the war — and I define 'serious' as one that connects with the gut middle-American feeling that the Islamist threat had to be confronted, but one that lays out a smarter approach than the Bush team's — Mr. Bush has gotten away with being sloppy and unprepared for postwar Iraq." 8:10:20 AM    comment []