A: When they drop direct mail against a private citizen!

Bob Guzzardi, one of my biggest supporters in my campaign, is getting plastered in a direct mail campaign against him by none other than Jubelirer and Brightbill’s bag man… Ron Harper.

Good job Bob!

More Americans killed by illegal aliens than Iraq war, study says

I found this interesting site called TechPresident where they focus on how Presidential candidates are using the web, and how the web is using them. In terms of online communities the Democrats are leaps and bounds ahead of Republicans. Most of the disparity can be explained as differences in core voters but it goes deeper than that. The Internet and the various technologies surrounding Web 2.0 are the future of communication. Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of web service where the focus of the web moves from merely research and commerce to online communication, interaction, and collaboration through social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and other folksonomies.

Of all the candidates, either Republican or Democrat, Senator Barack Obama has the largest presence both at MySpace and threw his own site My.BarackObama.com where users can not only create their own blog but can also develop a community of “friends” similar to MySpace. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s YouTube channel is one of the most visited and watched sites on the monster that is YouTube. About the only attempt at embracing Web 2.0 comes from Senator McCain. Senator McCain is using YouTube to create a Virtual Town Hall where citizens can post a video question on YouTube and the Senator will respond. It is kind of hokey but it is an effort.

In 2004 Howard Dean had a huge internet presence with his Meet-Me groups. This presence did not translate into victory, but it did help catapult him to the front of the pack. But I wonder if in the future, online communities and how candidates interact with them will play a larger role. I am not sure if a large Web 2.0 presence will translate into victory in 2008. It is way too early to tell. But candidates especially on the right need to engage in Web 2.0 or they just may be left to behind.