Is Gays For Giuliani Actually That Effective?

There's been a bit of buzz (here and here) in the blogosphere about the Gays For Giuliani commercial. It came out (hahah) the commercial actually is a Democratic opposition tactic orchestrated by Democratic activist Mike Rogers. But I gotta question: How effective can this oppo tactic possibly be? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one. As we discussed previously, the working assumption is that any Republican supporting Giuliani knows what they are getting themselves into. It's obvious that Rudy Giuliani's morality already has a polarizing effect on Republicans. I fail to see how such a tactic at this juncture could embellish that. It seems hard to believe that Giuliani supporters or even those on the fence will jump ship after seeing this video. And even more hard to believe, that Republicans that do not support Giuliani would ever support him. To top it off, for all the noise people are making, it's exposure is clearly limited at best. The Gays For Giuliani campaign ad has had a mere 52,000 views over the course of the passed two weeks [CLARIFICATION: 52,000 views on YOUTUBE]. It seems to only be on the radar of the savvy fringe that sways left anyway. It seems they're preaching to the converted. In the grand scheme of things, there's no way this particular campaign even makes a dent. If anything, could it garner support from Democrats? That's reaching I know, but I'm just a little confused. If you go after Romney, you're at least going after a candidate that dominates the base. But Giuliani? It seems he'll never win over a percentage of the base and no opposition campaign will change that. I feel like this is significant only because it's the first attack of its kind for this political season. Not because it's a shining example of a successful attack campaign. I'd like to know what you think.

Rudy Giuliani: When Social Networks Strike Back

Funny story over at TechCrunch:

Another social networking embarrassment for a presidential candidate: Rudy Giuliani’s 17-year-old daughter Caroline supports Barack Obama for president over her father. Until this morning she was a member of the One Million Strong For Obama Facebook group, and lists her political views as “liberal.” Caroline removed herself from the group after Slate emailed her about it, but it remained in her newsfeed...

More and screen-cap at TechCrunch.

Poll: White Male Factor Helps White Male, John Edwards

Recent Rasmussen Reports polling shows that despite Hillary Clinton's lead in the Democratic Primary pack, she's behind John Edwards and Barack Obama in match-ups with Republicans. Today's poll puts Hillary Clinton neck and neck with Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani while a poll from last week puts John Edwards 11 points ahead against Fred Thompson and 7 points ahead against Rudy Giuliani. Even Barack Obama holds 6 point leads over both Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, despite being a white male only in spirit. So when push comes to shove, is America ready for a female president, or just not Hillary?

Rudy Giuliani Talks At Us

So Giuliani's been in the YouTube YouChoose Spotlight for about a day now. I watched the video and thought he was crazy. Then I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and considered that I might be crazy. So I waited for some views, comments, replies and ratings to come in before discussing my opinion of the video. It turns out, based on the poor feedback and one star rating, that maybe I'm not crazy. To date, Rudy Giuliani is the only candidate to talk at us in the Spotlight. There is nothing inviting, engaging, thought-provoking or discourse-promoting about his video. He doesn't introduce himself or address the YouTube constituency. He doesn't ask questions. He doesn't invite video responses. Rather, he discusses his definition of leadership (a definition that essentially leaves the public, meaning you, out of leadership) and invites you to check out his 12 Commitments website which is first and foremost a fund raising landing page. There's a button that let's you send in your ideas, but there's nothing aggregating people's comments. Giuliani seriously needs to fire his web campaign people because frankly, I expected more from him.

Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl

From the creators of I Got A Crush On Obama. It's like a sexy political street battle pillow fight musical. These girls are so hot. And it can't possibly be good for rocking the vote. Cuz I just want to stay home, light a scented candle and touch myself.

Five Creative Internet Campaign Tactics

YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, we've been there, done that. Now, let's take a look at some of the more unique techie tactics to which candidates have taken.

First, There's text messaging updates. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama all have little fields on their websites that either allow you to enter your cellphone number or tell you where to send a message. Complete the step and you'll start getting SMS text message campaign updates. Regardless of how useful the updates are, it's always fun to go to Hillary Clinton's page and enter a co-worker's cell phone number as a practical joke.

Next, let's talk about the Ron Paul. There's a link on his homepage to Digg. Why? Cuz his supporters are the craziest Diggers ever. They'll click on anything if you tell them it'll help get Ron Paul some network media attention. 7000 Diggs to support Ron Paul getting on the Daily Show? It sounds a little like spam to me. But the Digg guys know better than to take it down cuz Ron Paul rEVOLutionaries would burn the Digg headquarters to the ground.

Next up is Barack Obama's very own Social Network built right into his website. It's an ambitious effort, but when you have the type of support that he has on MySpace, Youtube and Facebook, it's just redundant and excessive.

Now, Rudy Giuliani's got a weird one. As a fundraising tactic, Rudy wants you to start a baseball team. Go online, register a team of nine players. Each player donates $25 to Rudy. Do that, and you'll get you're very own Rudy Giuliani pennant! If your team raises $2008 you get your very own SIGNED Rudy trading card! And $5000? Get read for this one. You get your very own Rudy Giuliani signed Baseball! Yeah!

Last up is EONS. Eons is a social network for OLD people like babyboomers. So far I've found Hillary Clinton and John Edwards on there. Hillary Clinton even links to her Eons profile from her site. But it doesn't seem all that effective. Neither candidate has more than a handful of "Eons friends." It just goes to show how effective the web is with young people. So I hope the candidates keep up the creative web marketing and look forward to getting messages from Ron Paul on Pownce.

YouChoose Roundup

I liked writing the YouChoose Roundup last week. I think I'll stick with it. Every Wednesday. Same time. Same channel.

1. I Like Mike? Really? Sounds familiar... Oh wait. I get it. That's witty. Wait. Nope. It's lame.
2. Dennis Kucinich: 1974 called. They want their suit back. Not even the "every man" would be caught dead in that.
3. spittingame: If you want Sam Brownback to respond, you're gonna have to do the Numa Dance.
4. Jamie: Less politics more bootie dance plz! You're such a cutie! Send full-body-pic? LOLS!
5. Anyone else notice that John Edwards becoming Anne Coulter's campaign manager completely evaded the news?
6. Hillary Clinton and Ellen DeGeneres are a match made in heaven. I'm just sayin...
7. Barack Obama: Excellent use of white folk.
8. Stop trying to make Al Gore happen. It's not going to happen!
9. Rudy Giuliani: I don't care what Pat Robertson says. Conservatives (and Jesus) know you love the gays.
10. Sometimes you gotta pass on the politics for a little Phil Collins.

Fred Thompson To Run For President in 2008

According to advisors, Fred Thompson has decided to run for President - and joins an already crowded GOP field that includes John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Apparently a testing-the-waters committee is to be formed June 4 so Thompson can start raising money, staffers will go on the payroll in early June and a policy team has been formed - but remains under wraps in case Thompson changes his mind.

At the debate on May 3rd there were a scant 10 GOP candidates on stage and clearly, that's not nearly enough options. Will Thompson water down the GOP voter pool and further divide the party or is he the one to bring it home? Read more on this former Law and Order actor and Tennessee Senator to decide for yourself. Click here to learn more.

Stat Watch: Ron Paul Most Popular Candidate On YouTube, Clinton Leads Polls By 9 Points

Ever since the Republican Candidates debated on May 3rd, Ron Paul has rocketed in popularity. He actually has twice the YouTube channel subscriptions as Barack Obama. Check it out: In non-viral news, Hillary Clinton is polling at 35%, 9 points ahead of Barack Obama. John Edwards has trailed out of significance to 14%.

As for the Republicans, Rudy Giuliani maintains a 25% share while Mitt Romney has nipped John McCain by a point, 16% and 15% respectively. Ron Paul is still not tracking in Rasmussen data, which we think is a mistake.

Giuliani vs Paul

An interesting debate has decided to stay at the forefront of GOP politics - and Giuliani and Paul are in the eye of the storm. The issue is whether or not the 9/11 attacks on NYC could be argued as 'blowback' for US involvement in the Middle East over the last decade. Paul's mention of this and subsequent smackdown by Giuliani at the debate earlier this week, has become newsworthy and continues to stick around. Surely Giuliani is not so sheltered that he would have 'first heard' of this theory that night at the debate - but maybe that just doesn't matter. Its an opportunity for him to look strong on National Security and relatively to make Paul look weak. Perception is everything in this race and Giuliani is no fool. Read more on it here.

Frontrunner Round Up

Front runner homepage traffic statistics for both political parties:


Democratic front runner traffic rank comparison over the last week:

Republican front runner traffic rank comparison over the last week (note: McCain's traffic is too low to register.):

GOP: Republicans Debate In South Carolina

Welcome to the wall o' Republicans.

YouChoose Posting Spotlight: Obama and Giuliani

Of the leading (I use that term loosely) candidates to post videos on the YouChoose channel of YouTube, Obama and Giuliani did so as recently as yesterday. For being so attentive to the YouTube generation's preferred medium of communication, today we'll spotlight their most recent postings.

Obama:

[This has been viewed 850 times]

Giuliani:

[This has been viewed 218 times]

As for the rest of the field, candidates last posted...
John Edwards: 2 days ago
Mitt Romney: 3 days ago
Hillary Clinton: 5 days ago
John McCain: 5 days ago
Dennis Kucinich: 7 days ago

As insignificant as this may seem, it's acually a good indicator of each candidate's investment in reaching out to the online community. The important factors: What's being posted and how often? In this latest round, it looks like Obama is sticking with the Iraq war criticism and Giuliani is showcasing his support from his Senatorial amigos. We'll monitor the postings and share more with you soon.

GOP YouChoose Candidates By The Numbers

In the wake of the GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan library a few days ago - the YouChoose Subscriptions and Channel Views on YouTube are as follows:

Mitt Romney
Subscribers: 1,842
Channel Views: 593,189

John McCain
Subscribers: 1,160
Channel Views: 419,520

Rudy Giuliani
Subscribers: 1,249
Channel Views: 75,351

Ron Paul
Subscribers: 1,478
Channel Views: 69,512

Sam Brownback
Subscribers: 60
Channel Views: 2,295

Jim Gilmore
Subscribers: 19
Channel Views: 642

Romney and McCain look strong with Channel Views at nearly 600,000 and 420,000 respectively. But as for the rest of the pack, numbers look paltry at best. The YouChoose forum is speaking to us. Let’s keep listening…

Republican Candidates Debate - Live Blogging Coverage

LIVE debate excerpts

Paul: Forign policy needs to be changed. I would never abuse habeus corpus.

Guiliani: We havent been attacked since 9/11. Bush did the right thing to put us on offense.

Thompson: I would transform healthcare system better than Bush has done.

Huckabee: I wouldnt centralize power like this administration. We need strong state power, not just federal.

McCain: I woulnd't mismanage the war like bush.

Romney: I respect Bush's thoughts to protect our country from terror. We need to strenghthen the American Family.

Romney: The big bad three are Pelosi, Reed and Hilary Clinton

Guiliani: The national card should be required for only for immigrants.

Tancredo: We do not need a national ID card, but do need a social security card that cannot be tampered.

Paul: I am absolutely apposed to a national card. This is against our idea of a free nation.

McCain: We do need a tamper proof document.

Brownback: We dont need a card. We need a secure border with a fence. We already have a social security number.

Romney: Having a national card and an indication of work status will help.

Guiliani: A national tamper proof card is needed in this country. We need a database of everyone.

Tancredo: I will work to protect women's rights. But the right to kill another person is not one that I will support.

Paul: I trust the freedom of expression and we shouldnt regulate the internet.

Gilmore: I am a consistent conservative that wont say one thing one year and another thing the next year.

Romney: The American family is the heart of this country. We need more marriages before babies.

McCain: YES believes in evolution. Also sees the hand of god when he sees the sunset at the grand canyon.

McCain: Lieberman would be a part of my administration. "I know how to reach across the aisle to the democrats, and they know how to do it to me"

Guiliani: We have to adjust the alternate minimum tax, we need to adjust the death tax.

Paul: Get rid of inflation tax. Its a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

McCain: Let's cut the alternate minimum tax and the 3000 tax credit for low income citizens.

Gilmore: Let's cut the Alternative minimum tax.

McCain: Tax cuts need to be permanent, but spending is ruining the future of this country. The first pork barrel bill that crosses my desk will be vetoed.

Romney: Is for universal heath care.

Guiliani: YES Govt funding on embryonic stem cell research.

Paul: NO Govt funding on embryonic stem cell research.

McCain: YES we should fund embryonic stem cell research.

Gilmore: NO Govt funding on embryonic stem cell research.

Gilmore: We have to let the courts and juries make the decisions on imprisonment.

Hunter on the environment: We should bring together colleges, universities and the private sector...to remove energy dependence on the middle east.

Huckabee: too early to give a grade to Bush's handling of the Iraq war

McCain: We need line-item veto!

McCain: Will make the authors of the first pork barrel to cross his desk famous

McCain: I never new a drunken sailor with the imagination of this congress

Tancredo: it's all about believing in your heart the things that you say. NOT being a centrist to win

Brownback on political corruption quistion: we need to rebuild the family structure! (and blames don imus)

Giuliani: George Will said he ran most conservative government in NYC

Giuliani: "Neither party has a monopoly on virtue or vice"

Tancredo: Carl Rove would not be in his White House

Hunter: his border fence is a DOUBLE fence! (not one of those little shitty ones) (btw, answer to question about being non-partisan to garner votes)

Brownback: we should invite in and celebrate faith to the public square

HUCKABEE: Those whose faith does not effect dicision making are lacking strong faith. (flip flop of what he said in previous quote)

Thompson: It's the right of businesses to fire gay employees for being gay

Paul: Overdoing military aggressiveness weakens national defense

Giuliani, now standing amongst his peers is anti-abortion

Romney: Abortion is a states rights issue

Thompson: "(Roe V Wade) should be left up to the state"

Paul on IRS: "If you want to lower taxes....you have to change police"

Hunter on Iran: "Iran has crossed the line."

McCain on Bin Laden: "I'll follow him to the gates of hell."

Romney on Bin Laden: "We need to make sure he pays for what he did" "This is a world wide jihadist movement" "He is going to pay and he is going to die!"

Gilmore on Bin Laden: "I think we need to do everything we need to do to get this guy, he is a symbol" "We have to use all abilities, diplomatic, economic and be on the moral highground"

Tancredo on protecting Israel: "If there is a threat to the existence of Israel...then you have to come to the aid of Israel"

McCain on Iran: "Iran is a state sponsor on Terrorism" "Iran poses one of the greatest threats to the world." "We cannot allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons"

Paul on foreign policy: "Lets not pretend the Iraqis were a threat to us"

Gilmore: "We're gonna have to engage in the middle east for a long time" "There will have to be a new commitment to the Middle East."

Huckabee on Rumsfeld and Iraq: "Clearly there was a real error on judgement"

Brownback on Iraq: "We win the war by standing up for our values" "Iran is the lead sponsor of Terror on the world"

McCain on Iraq: "We need the support of the American people" "We are on the right track now. It was terribly missmanaged, but we have a new strategy and a new general."

Giuliani on Immigration: "We should solve our immigration issue with our strengths, not our weaknesses"


The Debaters:
Sam Brownback
Jim Gilmore
Rudy Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Tom Tancredo
Tommy Thompson

Going into this debate, these are the poll standings for the Republican front runners courtesy Rasmussen Reports:
Giuliani: 30%
McCain: 14%
Thompson: 14%
Romney: 11%


Going into this debate, the leading Republican Candidates have the following YouTube Channel Subscribers:

Giuliani: 1223
McCain: 1131
Paul: 1243
Romney: 1770

Dennis Kucinich in YouChoose Spotlight, Hits The Ground Running

John McCain's time in the YouChoose Spotlight came and went with relatively little impact. Not only did he receive just over half the viewer responses as John Edwards, but he has not replied to a single one of them. And then came Kucinich. Dennis Kucinich has managed to slide up neck and neck with McCain for subscribers after just a day of being in the YouChoose Spotlight. Granted, Kucinich put up his Spotlight video before his time in the Spotlight started, but that's just the kind of move it takes to garner support in this campaign. One of the most interesting things about YouChoose is the opportunity it creates to look at candidates as individuals and not as puppets of their respective parties. If you will, YouChoose almost acts as a multi-party primary. For young voters yet to register with a particular party, YouChoose actually offers the choice, Obama or Giuliani, McCain or Kucinich, allowing candidates to dictate party registration and not the other way around. Granted, Iraq is a polarizing issue, but the recent exit legislation support suggests that it's becoming less partisan. Anyway, who am I kidding? This entire post is just a segue to the Elizabeth Kucinich photo gallery in the post below. So without further ado, the next First Lady:

GOP Candidates Contemplate Their Association With Bush

Thursday night, leading GOP candidates will meet at the Ronald Reagan Presidential library for their first debate. But instead of uniting on trickle down economics or lauding our post-cold-war-era country's latest accomplishments, the main theme of the night will be the issue of whether or not each individual candidate will decide to align themselves with President Bush's current stance on topics of Iraq and health care (maybe even the environment?).

Already, the leading candidates are showing clear divisions. In formally announcing his candidacy last week, John McCain, without naming Mr. Bush, attacked the performance of the White House at home and abroad. In doing so, he separated himself from his two main rivals, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, who have chosen to stick close to Mr. Bush, or at least to avoid breaking openly with him.

The sinking ship that is President Bush's administration will yield defection sooner or later. The big question is, who jumps ship? And When?

Supporting the quagmire in Iraq does not appear to be the most prudent choice in helping anyone get elected...but what do I know. I'm just some silly little citizen. I don't really count...right?
Read more on the issue of GOP alignment here.

ELECTION: The Video Game!

The game is called "Hillary Clinton vs. Rudy Giuliani 2008." Remember Highgrow? Ya, it's a little like that, but instead of cultivating pot, it's presidential candidates. First, pick a side: Clinton or Giuliani. Next, hit the campaign trail. Finally, take the White House. It's supposed to be a race between the frontrunners, but unfortunately for the developers Barack Obama has caught up so significantly in the polls that it could be a matter of weeks before version 2.0 comes out. Anyway, the game sells for on eBay for about $10 by Gameworthy. CLICK HERE to see it on eBay. You can see a video demo of the game on YouTube right here:

Poll: Leads Held By Rudy And Hillary Tightening

Leading presidential candidates in both parties lost ground in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. The most dramatic shift: newcomer Obama has closed to within 5 points of Clinton.

On the GOP side, McCain cut Giuliani's lead from 22 points at the start of April to 13 points now. Latest standing: Giuliani 35%, McCain 22%.

USA Today

Cross-Dressing Giuliani

10 years ago, Giuliani dressed in drag at a benefit. Seems like no big deal, but now with YouTube allowing the reemergence of footage from this event, one must ask if it could cost him support. The footage has already been re-edited into a mock campaign video and has been the subject of press.

Will Giuliani's cross-dressing past cost him? [planetout.com]

The Young Turks discuss here:


Mock campaign video:


Giuliani smooching the Donald: