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Issue-specific candidate questionnaires on everything from gun rights to abortion have been a staple of presidential politics for several election cycles, and in the 2008 race, some interest groups are adding a new media element to that tradition. They are getting candidates to go on the record on film and posting their answers to the Internet for everyone to watch.

Twelve of the current Republican and Democratic candidates recently accepted the ongoing challenge of the election reform group Why Tuesday, and the group has video of another candidate, Republican Fred Thompson while protected by aides, walking away from an opportunity to take the challenge.

And today, the Save Darfur Coalition, a human rights group focused on ending genocide in that region of the African nation of Sudan, unveiled a similar “voter education project.”

So far, the project includes five short video op-eds of the candidates that complement their stated positions on Darfur, Africa at large or Darfur. Visitors to the coalition’s Web site also are encouraged to e-mail candidates who don’t yet have Darfur-specific policies.

“The next president of the United States must walk into the Oval Office with a cogent and ambitious plan to end the suffering in Darfur,” coalition spokeswoman Allyn Brooks-LaSure said in a release. “Darfur’s suffering has galvanized millions of Americans, who all demand an end to the Darfur genocide, regardless of party, ethnicity, religion, red state or blue state.”

Here are the video op-eds from the first five candidates, Democrats Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson; and just one Republican, John McCain:

Categories: Producer's Picks, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, John McCain, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights

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At last night’s Democratic presidential debate, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Hillary Clinton whether Ross Perot was right in the 1992 presidential race when he warned that the North American Free Trade Agreement would kill U.S. jobs.

Her quips in response that she has only “a vague memory” of a bunch of charts about the NAFTA debate in the campaign that sent her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to the White House is now online video fodder for Democratic rival John Edwards.

Talking Points Memo posted a fuller clip of Clinton’s answer, including her acknowledgement that “NAFTA was a mistake to the extent that it did not deliver on what we had hoped it would, and that’s why I call for a trade timeout.”

Categories: Labor, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Economy, AdWatch, Trade

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The Internet powerhouse Google continued its “Candidate@Google” series of interviews with 2008 presidential hopefuls today. Barack Obama, one of the three leading Democratic candidates, visited the Google campus in Silicon Valley to discuss the innovation agenda he unveiled hours before his appearance.

Google previously has welcomed the following candidates to its headquarters:

• Democrat Hillary Clinton;
• Democrat John Edwards;
• Democrat Mike Gravel;
• Republican John McCain;
• Republican Ron Paul;
• And Democrat Bill Richardson.

Among other things, Obama called for “an open Internet” and emphasized his commitment to “network neutrality,” a term that refers to a proposed government mandate for equal treatment of high-speed Internet content by companies that control broadband networks.

Here’s an excerpt from the speech:

What comes next depends on the choices that we make right now, in this moment, in this election. We could see the spirit of innovation that started this company be stifled. We could see the Internet divided up to the highest bidders. We could a government that uses technology to shut people out instead of letting them in. Tax breaks shuffled to special interests while the next startup, the next Google, can’t get a fair shot. …

Another alternative is for us to unlock a new future of opportunity. Together we can open up the government and invite all citizens in while connecting all of America to 21st-century broadband. We can use technology to help achieve universal health care, to reach for a clean energy future, and to ensure that young Americans can compete and win in the global economy.

Categories: Producer's Picks, Technology, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, John McCain, Ron Paul

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The first round of questioning at 10Questions.com, a site co-sponsored by AirCongress that is collecting video queries to present to presidential candidates, is about to end. You have one day to ask your question.

The results so far: 188 questions and 92,500 votes from 27,000 voters. The top videos so far are about “network neutrality” and whether America is “unofficially a theocracy.” Activists on both of those issues have heavily promoted the questions. The third question is about “non-religious voters.”

The rest of the top 10 questions, as of now, cover: medical marijuana, wiretapping without warrants, transparency in government, “corporate personhood,” campaign reform, the voting system, and the two-party system.

So far, Democrat John Edwards and Republican Ron Paul have committed to answering the top 10 questions. If you don’t like the list, go vote and do your part to change the line-up.

Categories: Politics, Presidency 2008, John Edwards, Ron Paul, 10Questions

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If you’ve been following the Democratic presidential race closely the past week, perhaps you noticed a trend: The frontrunners have been trading barbs over whose “politics” is worse — and those “politics” have nothing to do with partisan philosophy or even issues.

The whole story has played out online in sound-bite, video format.

The Politics Of Hope (Or Not)
Hillary Clinton, who has a wide lead in the Democratic polls, struck first by prominently posting videos of two of her leading rivals, John Edwards and Barack Obama, at HillaryHub. The videos showed the candidates preaching “the politics of hope” and vowing not to attack other Democrats — after both of them had begun offering sharp criticisms of Clinton’s record and statements.

Tim Grieve of Salon.com questioned the thinking behind that approach, noting that Clinton had invited “conversations” when she began her campaign. “The last thing the Democratic Party needs now is somebody else — let alone one of its own — suggesting that open debate is somehow wrong,” Grieve wrote.

The Politics Of Pile On
But Clinton stuck by her strategy. After the other Democratic candidates targeted her repeatedly in a debate last week, her campaign produced a video condemning “the politics of pile on.” “I seem to be the topic of great conversation and consternation,” Clinton said, “and that’s for a reason.”

The Politics Of Parsing
The Edwards campaign answered with two videos of its own. The first, one that bloggers across the political spectrum agreed was powerful and even “devastating,” showed her giving different answers on the same subjects.

“Unless I missed something,” Edwards said in a clip from the ad, “Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes.”

The Politics Of The Status Quo
The follow-up Edwards ad, released yesterday, acknowledged that Clinton has been consistent on one issue: her insistence on accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists.

Categories: Producer's Picks, Democrats, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

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