Evangelicals for McCain? Uh . . . How About No?

At the Family Research Council's Value Voter's Summit Washington Briefing last week, the evangelical group conducted a straw poll for President. McCain, Thompson, Romney, and Giuliani all spoke. As you can imagine, Rudy Giuliani wasn't the most popular guy. Not only was he given a spot Saturday morning, as opposed to Friday night like everyone else, but he didn't do all that well in the straw poll, with only 1.85% of the vote- eek! BUT, he still beat John McCain, who only got 81 votes...or 1.4%.

Feud Among Hillary Clinton's Staff

The New York Post reporting a feud between Hillary Clinton's campaign staff in New York and her staff in DC. Apparently there is tension between those in New York who feel they have elected Hillary before, and those in DC who "do national elections." As we move from a fundraising operation to a real campaign, maybe it's time to consolidate staff? But maybe that will make it worse...

This, in the wake of a Clinton Aide telling Hillary in a memo that she should skip Iowa. Hillary quickly put that memo in the circular file.

Obama Goes from Man to Campaign Machine: Takes Over MySpace Page

For years, the Barak Obama myspace page has been run by a Los Angles man named Joe Anthony. The Obama campaign began to work with Anthony, allowing him to maintain the page, but having the password to add content themselves. not anymore. The Barak Obama campaign has taken the myspace page, with the help of myspace itself, from Joe Anthony.

Joe Anthony writes on his myspace blog, he is "heartbroken." Myspace let him keep the contact info. of the 160,000 friends he had gotten as Barak Obama. The Obama campaign might want to stay on his good side.

Social Networking Sites: Who Wins?

We recently told you about all the social networking sites that John Edwards belongs to, but who is really winning the social networking war? As you might imagine, it's Barak Obama - no question.

A look at Barak's facebook profile shows 4,650 wall posts (candidates don't have a friend-count), and 185 facebook gifts, which users pay a dollar for. He has posted 95 notes, four videos, and 95 pictures.

Hillary Clinton races to catch up, but only has 2,715 wall posts and 13 gifts -- 172 less than Barak! She has posted no notes and no videos and only 23 pictures (which can be tagged by others).

John Edwards, though a member of them all, doesn't have as strong of a showing on facebook. Only 1,138 wall posts and 2 gifts (right that's 183 less than Barak, and 11 less than Hillary). He has, not surprisingly, posted 12 notes, 9 videos, and 44 pictures.

But even John Edwards has the Republicans beaten. Rudy Giuliani doesn't seem to have a facebook profile. Mitt Romney has 1,008 wall posts, no gifts...seven videos and 185 pictures. He's posting the stuff...but not getting the gifts. McCain comes in last, with only 140 wall posts...no gifts...four notes, no videos and only four pictures.

Chris Dodd, a candidate who got to facebook early, has his privacy settings so you can only see his profile if you're his friend. And well...we're not.

That's a lot like Giuliani on MySpace, who has a private profile. We don't know if this is because he doesn't know any better...or maybe it's his old facebook profile for all his buddies before he was running for president.

Barak also leads the Myspace war with 86,071 friends - way surpassing John Edwards' 16,562 and Hillary Clinton's meek 6,577. Joe Biden has 1,365 and Chris Dodd...546. Maybe that is why you have to be his friend to see his facebook profile.

Romney has 3,699, McCain has 3,244.

John Edwards is a Social Networker

According to the Washington Post, John Edwards is a part of every social networking site there is - whether you've heard of it or not. Blip.tv? 43Things.com? no one knows what they are, but John Edwards is on them.

He even has a social networking page on his website that gives you a simple link to "connect" to them all, not to mention his own social networking site, which campaign officials say has 20,000 members and 1,200 chapters across the country.

Oh, and on his facebook profile he refers to his wife, Elizabeth, as his "life partner."

Hillary's Record Lasted...A Day

Barak Obama surprising everyone today with an announcement that he has raised $25 million dollars to date from 100,000 donors.

We've continually talked about how Barak leads the internet race, far outpacing any other candidate, including Hillary. HALF of Barak Obama's donors, 50,000, donated online for a total of $6.9 million.

Online campaigns have been mainly seen as free advertisment, but as Howard Dean did and now Barak, online donations are becoming more and more of a stronghold for a massive campaign warchest.

Who Expected to See Mitt Romney in a Headline About Fundraising?

Hillary Clinton's record-breaking 26 million dollars raised is impressive, but considering the powerhouse of Clinton, Inc. and the fundraising capability of Bill Clinton, it is far more impressive that Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate trailing in third place struggling for name recognition, raised 23 MILLION DOLLARS. what?

Not only did this come incredibly close to Hillary Clinton's world-record, but he also beat Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani, who raised $15 Million (of course $10 million of that was during the month of March alone).

Giuliani, Clinton Dominate Respective Polls

Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton currently dominate their parties' primary polls, according to an average of all public opinion polls compiled by RealClearPolitics. Giuliani leads by McCain by an average of 14 points (a gain that continues to increase), and even Gingrich beats Romney at this point. Clinton leads Obama by an average of 12 points and Edwards by 20.

Republicans:

Democrats:

Cancer = $$$$

Elizabeth Edwards' recurrence of cancer was seen as detrimental to the Edwards campaign. He would no longer be able to spend the amount of time needed in Iowa and New Hampshire. But lately, all the press has been about one thing: Money. Who will pull in the most to solidify themselves as a leader in the primary before the deadline for the first quarter on Saturday? And more importantly, who would be basically thrown out of the race and no longer seen as a serious candidate? This was a serious risk for John Edwards who faces up against two celebrity candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

But the return of cancer for Elizabeth Edwards has prompted a surge in donations to the Edwards campaign, collecting over a half-million dollars in one week.

People speculate that Elizabeth's cancer has given John Edwards a chance to really connect with voters...an area in which Hillary Clinton still lacks skill, which was even conceded by her husband.

The McCain Bracket

John McCain won't have his campaign competing with March Madness. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Hence the McCain Bracket Challenge. You fill out your bracket and have a chance to win a McCain fleece, hat, or lapel pin.

You have to register just to see McCain's bracket, but word on the street is he picked all the number one seeds to go to the final four. Risk Taker?

Money Doesn't Grow On Trees: But It Does Win Primary Elections

Candidates from both sides of the aisle are worried that a weak showing in first quarter fundraising reports, due by Saturday at midnight. They have fundraisers scheduled right up to the last minute. With so many candidates in the race, creative ways of finding money in unusual places is going to become commonplace; but in the end, there is only so much money to go around and the one with the least money will be the ones dropping out of the race early. We've already seen Tom Vilsack bow out of the race in debt. A debt that Hillary Clinton is helping to pay for, by the way. No money woes from the Clinton campaign I guess. It will be interesting to see how fundraising numbers match up to poll numbers, but keep repeating the mantra It's Still Early. Everyone keeps saying that, but no one has ever seen a race like the 2008, who knows what early is?

Giuliani Endorsed by Steve Forbes

We know he's an economic conservative, but Giuliani has been endorsed by flat-tax advocate Steve Forbes. Giuliani also rang the opening bell on the NASDAQ market yesterday.

Now where's that Pat Roberts endorsement?
Don't hold your breath.

Though after many Republicans are disappointed that comprehensive tax reform didn't come from two terms of the Bush Administration (many arguing he made the tax code more complicated than it already is) a little Ronald Reagan coming out of a candidate might be a good thing. Particularly as Republicans complain about "the largest tax increase in history" being passed by the Democrats (which democrats, by the way, contend doesn't increase taxes one penny. You figure that out, we just cover the election). This is particularly true as Republican discontent with the President grows, causing many to fear a "meltdown" in 2008.

1984 Video Created Lived Obama's Press Secretary

The creator of the 1984 video discussed in a previous post that became a huge story as the press tried to figure out who it was, lived with Ben LaBolt, Obama's Press Secretary. Philip de Vellis, the creator, lived with LaBolt last year in Ohio when they were both working on Sherrod Brown's senate campaign, FoxNews reports.

Obama's campaign has denied any knowledge of or involvement with the ad - those words coming straight from LaBolt's mouth.

Money Troubles for McCain

McCain won't meet his fundraising goals this quarter and will probably be beaten by Mitt Romney, who currently places third in most Republican primary polls. McCain places second after Giuliani.

Don't read too much into that though, in January and February McCain only attended two fundraisers a month. This month he has twenty scheduled with another twenty for April.

Giuliani Launches New Website

Many posts ago we talked about how poor Rudy Giuliani's Website was. Today he launched a new website - this one definitely prettier. However, it lacks the videos and interactive features that every other candidate has...and internet users have become accustomed to. It does have a small link to facebook, etc. for "Save and Share," and widgets for blogs, but it's certainly not a highlight of the site as it is for many other candidates (or like McCain who has decided to invent his own of everything). There's very little to joinrudy2008.com. He has a newsfeed that shows how many times an article has been viewed (like digg.com) and puts them in the order of those that have been viewed most. That's about as technologically advanced as it gets- a close second to the photo album.

Déjà vu: Elizabeth Edwards' Cancer Returns

First diagnosed in the final weeks of her husbands 2004 campaign, Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has returned. John Edwards cancelled a house party in Iowa to fly back for a doctor's visit where he received the bad news.

The cancer is in the bone, and at a point where it is no longer curable, though it is still fully treatable.

Edwards insists that the campaign goes on. According to Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia's Center for Politics on WTOP Radio News, this is going to have an effect on the campaign nonetheless. It will be tiring personally, and will cause his campaign time in Iowa and New Hampshire, both extremely important for Edwards, to wane significantly.

McCain Continues Campaign to Prove He's Conservative

McCain, as we seem to post everyday, continues to try and convince the world he is a conservative. This time, criticizing socialism (so yesterday) in South America and warning that is might spread. Who is talking about Latin America? Well just John McCain. But he says the Iraq war has detracted attention from the spread of socialism in South America. Maybe this will work when people know who Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales are. I wonder if they will gain notoriety before or after Romney?

Edwards Wife in Medical Trouble?

Elizabeth Edwards had cancer at one time, but all signs point to remission now. Nonetheless, John Edwards has cancelled campaign speeches to fly back to North Carolina for an emergency doctor's visit with his wife.

This story developing...

Clinton "Big Sister" Video Creater Exposed!

"This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last," de Vellis wrote. "The game has changed."

Indeed it has. Phil de Vellis turns out to be the creator the Hillary Clinton "Big Sister" ad that supports Obama, shown below in a blog posting earlier this week.

The surprise? He works for the firm that has been contracted to handle Barak Obama's website. eek! And he's now been fired.

Club for Growth Fight Not Over

Earlier this week we showed the video of Steve Moore, the founder of the Club for Growth, praising John McCain, as well as video of McCain's criticism of the Club for Growth.

But the Club for Growth isn't full of praise. A White Paper released by the Club says that McCain's "overall record is tainted by a marked antipathy towards the free market and individual freedom." Ouch.

It doesn't stop there. The Club for Growth also released a press release stating that McCain was 1 of only 2 Republicans to oppose the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 1 of only 3 Republicans in 2003. The Club is asking him to apologize for those votes.

Maybe that answers the question that comes to mind after you realize who is missing here:

Uncertainty Looms and Threatens Big Time Candidates

Despite all the hype surrounding the '08 elections a few polls remind some candidates of one thing: It's early. Which means don't get your hopes up. According to data collected by the International Herald Tribune,

One-quarter of people questioned say they would not vote for a Mormon candidate, compared with 8 percent who say they would not vote for a woman and 3 percent for a black candidate, according to a Newsweek poll in December. Tough news for Romney, who is still polling a distant third.

Most Republicans and those who lean Republican are unaware of Giuliani's support for civil unions for same-sex couples and abortion rights, according to a Gallup poll in mid-January. This is made even worse by the fact that public support for McCain is probably based on a fairly firm base of knowledge about him. Knowledge of Giuliani is probably based mostly on his response as New York's mayor to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Nonetheless, Republicans have picked the early front-runner in seven of the past 10 elections, according to Gallup polling...in the other three, the Republican incumbent was elected. If Giuliani can hang on to his fairly strong lead, he will be in fine shape. But if the above stats are true, we could see McCain pulling ahead. None of this looks good for Romney, but he continues to gain momentum and insider support - which is key for a Republican Candidate.

Democrats on the other hand have a wide open field. Clinton's high poll numbers mean little in that race.

McCain Continues Fight to Win Over Conservatives, Cites/Violates 11th Amendment, and Changes position on Club for Growth?

Our first post ever was about John McCain's tribute to Ronald Reagan and his attempt to become a conservative (or show the world he really is one?).

That fight continues, now the McCain campaign is circulating this video from CNBC about how conservative John McCain has become...




Why is this hilarious? Because the video above is Steve Moore talking about how conservative John McCain is. Steve Moore, the founder of the Club For Growth, which McCain blames for the Republican loss in the midterm elections. Again citing Reagan, McCain quotes and violates the 11th amendment right here, all while criticizing the Club for Growth:

Everyone's Talking About It: Hillary? Big Brother?

A video has appeared on YouTube that is anti-Hillary (kind-of) and at the end says "BarakObama.com," yet the Obama campaign takes no claim to it, and Hillary has no idea where it came from. Yet it's creating a lot of news, which is just another example of how regular people armed with YouTube can create free political advertising for candidates. Which just means that the candidate creating the most internet traffic (see post below, in this case it's Obama) might have a huge leg up.



Ann Coulter said on FoxNews that it was a great video and she doesn't see how anyone could vote for Hillary now. I'm not sure I even understand the "commercial."

McCainSpace

John McCain has someone telling him about social networking...but a profile on myspace isn't enough for him. He's started McCainSpace...apparently a social networking site to build grassroots support...and "build your own website." Will he take off like Howard Dean did? raise millions of dollars through the internet? probably not.

Weekly Internet Rankings: Campaign '08

Weekly Internet Rankings are back! Candidate, world ranking, us ranking, and the change in the US ranking from last week is shown. As we get closer to the election, most sites are increasing in traffic, but Duncan Hunter, Sam Brownback, and Joe Biden have all declined. More surprisingly, Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton (who still lead the pack-by a lot) have seen a reduction in traffic, at least relative to the rest of the internet.

Website	World Rank	US Rank	Change
mittromney.com	124,242	16,501	14.12%
joinrudy2008.com	129,763	17,556	33.34%
johnmccain.com	167,447	10,185	73.61%
gohunter08.com	465,530	79,789	-26.20%
brownback.com	357,914	80,646	-12.81%
teamtancredo.com	462, 946	76,711	6.01%
explorehuckabee.com	633,594	79,622	21.09%
tommy2008.com	1,577,683	193,926	34.33%
barakobama.com	12,147	1,649	-6.59%
hillaryclinton.com	18,401	4,948	-88.07%
johnedwards.com	31,220	4,876	37.33%
kucinich.us	133,971	12,886	53.46%
joebiden.com	377,144	75,069	-69.18%
richardsonforpresident.com	335,701	64,692	11.73%
chrisdodd.com	557,591	47,040	52.92%
gravel2008.us/	762,001	37,666	78.10%

Sorry...

Sorry everyone, I've been in London for a week. I'm back now and weekly internet rankings will be up soon.

Hillary Clinton hides past as a Republican and a Communist

When Hillary Clinton arrived on the campus of Wellesley College, she was a Goldwater Republican and soon become President of the Wellesley Young Republicans.

But she probably doesn't want you to know that. However, as the presidential candidate attempts to shed her liberal skin, she probably really doesn't want you to know that she later harbored communist ideas and that she attempted to bury her senior thesis as Clinton Biographers clamored for it.

Then University President Nan Keohane (later the president of Duke) said that the senior thesis of every Wellesley alumn is available in the college archives for anyone to read. Well, that is, except for those written by either a president or first lady of the United States.

But Hillary is no longer first lady, and her thesis is no longer under seal. MSNBC has dug it up, and the reason she wanted to hide it is beyond apparent as she appears to agree strongly with the radical, communist ideas of Saul Alinksy, for whom she shows quite a bit of sympathy.

The article says that campaign attack ads citing her thesis are not out of the question. Though it's probably more surprising to most that she was a republican, not a communist.

Tom Ridge to Support McCain, Chair Exploratory Committee

The first Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge has pledged his support for John McCain and will serve as the national co-chair of McCain's exploratory committee, the McCain campaign announced today.

If It Is Hillary...

If Hillary turns out to be the Democratic Nominee who gives Republicans the best chance? It's early to say, but we can look at head-to-head polls from RealClearPolitics:



Giuliani has the best shot and seems to be gaining on Hillary all the time...

Poll	Date	Giuliani	Clinton	Spread
Average	02/06 to 02/24	48.30%	43.30%	Giuliani +5.0%
Zogby	02/22 - 02/24	47%	40%	Giuliani +7%
Rasmussen	02/21 - 02/22	52%	43%	Giuliani +9%
Quinnipiac	02/13 - 02/19	48%	43%	Giuliani +5%
Marist	02/12 - 02/15	47%	45%	Giuliani +2%
FOX News	02/13 - 02/14	49%	40%	Giuliani +9%
USA Today/Gallup	02/09 - 02/11	50%	48%	Giuliani +2%
Siena	02/06 - 02/09	45%	44%	Giuliani +1%

John McCain is iffy...could go either way...

Poll Average	Date 02/06 to 02/24	McCain 46.00%	Clinton 44.80%	Spread McCain +1.2%
Zogby	02/22 - 02/24	47%	39%	McCain +8%
Quinnipiac	02/13 - 02/19	46%	44%	McCain +2%
Marist	02/12 - 02/15	46%	46%	Tie
USA Today/Gallup	02/09 - 02/11	47%	50%	Clinton +3%
Siena	02/06 - 02/09	44%	45%	Clinton +1%

If Hillary is picked, Mitt Romney has some campaigning to do...

Poll	Date	Romney	Clinton	Spread
RCP Average	02/05 to 02/24	37.30%	48.50%	Clinton +11.2%
Zogby	02/22 - 02/24	35%	45%	Clinton +10%
Quinnipiac	02/13 - 02/19	37%	49%	Clinton +12%
Marist	02/12 - 02/15	36%	49%	Clinton +13%
Rasmussen	02/05 - 02/06	41%	51%	Clinton +10%

Defeating the Jihadists

On Governor Mitt Romney's webpage you won't find anything about the "War in Iraq." Instead, it's all about "Defeating the Jihadists." Pretty smart for someone who is pro-war (most of the time), and supports the troop-increase. We're not "stabilizing Iraq," we're "defeating the Jihadists!"

For a good look at how everyone voted for the War in Iraq, what they think now, and whether they support the troop increase - as well as a good listing of some candidates you've maybe never heard of - check out this New York Times Article

Weekly Internet Rankings

Something we're going to do every week here at weneedtoblog is examine the alexa.com internet ranking of all the major candidates' websites.

Below, they are separated Republican (red) and Democrat (blue) and in order by their US ranking.

Democrats continue to blow Republicans out of the water. Many more visitors to their sites than Republicans overall...many, many more. But within each party, the stats might surprise you...Obama beating Hillary, and Romney beating Giuliani who is beating McCain. Remember the numbers below are their rankings compared to the entire internet (the lower the number, the more visitors).

Candidate____Website____World Rank__US Rank

Mitt Romney	mittromney.com	191,054	19,214
Rudy Giuliani	joinrudy2008.com	217,752	26,335
John McCain	johnmccain.com	413,408	38,599
Duncan Hunter	gohunter08.com	614,563	63,223
Sam Brownback	brownback.com	373,420	71,490
Tom Tancredo	teamtancredo.com	627,931	81,612
Mike Huckabee	explorehuckabee.com	962,358	100,908
Tommy Thompson	tommy2008.com	2,415,902	295,291
Barak Obama	barakobama.com	17,148	1,547
Hillary Clinton	hillaryclinton.com	22,635	2,631
John Edwards	johnedwards.com	47,224	7,780
Dennis Kucinich	kucinich.us	199,971	27,690
Joe Biden	joebiden.com	491, 375	44,371
Bill Richardson	richardsonforpresident.com	433,316	73,287
Tom Vilsack*	tomvilsack08.com	362,818	74,864
Chris Dodd	chrisdodd.com	757,406	99,905
Mike Gravel	gravel2008.us	1,014,896	171, 977

*Tom Vilsack is no longer a presidential candidate

What is perhaps most surprising is when the world ranking doesn't correspond to the US Ranking. Unexplained to us, Bill Richardson had a higher rank in Estonia (39,075) than in the United States (73,287), Tommy Thompson had a higher rank in Australia (179,688) than in this country (295, 291), and Mike Gravel, although barely known to American voters is apparently more popular in both Lithuania (ranked 77, 657) and Australia (140,575).

Next week we'll show you updated stats and the change from this week. Website traffic may not be an accurate way of looking at the overall demographic, but this early in the stage it's a good indicator of momentum, particularly on the grassroots front.