Obama launches iPhone app; US election good for Twitter

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Obama Campaign launches iPhone app


Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign launched an iPhone application on Thursday that turns the vaunted device into a political recruiting tool. You can learn more about this app at the Obama iPhone app Web site.

The most notable feature "organizes and prioritizes your contacts by key battleground states, making it easy to reach out and make an impact quickly," according to the software.

On my phone, the application ranked contacts in Colorado, Michigan, and New Mexico at the top; at the bottom was a friend whose cell phone has a Texas number, though she actually lives in California.

The application anonymously reports back the number of calls made this way: "Your privacy is important: no personal data or contacts will be uploaded or stored. Only the total number of calls you make is uploaded anonymously."

The software is the latest effort by politicians to capitalize on technology, joining other examples such as ads distributed through YouTube, Web-based fund-raising, Facebook pages and fan groups, and e-mail recruitment drives.

The Obama for America iPhone application is available for download through Apple's iTunes store, said Raven Zachary, an iPhone consultant who's directing the launch effort.

A "get involved" feature uses the phone's GPS-based location sensing to find the nearest Obama campaign headquarters, and "local events" likewise pulls up a list of activities sorted by proximity.

A "media" section provides links to video and photos, but beware: YouTube showed errors following some of the links. Perhaps the newer videos hadn't been prepared for iPhone display yet.

The application also shows Obama statements to the news media and a guide to Obama's positions on various issues.

Additionally, the application shows how many calls have been made nationwide and how many you made. Those statistics are the kind that can motivate people--they can feel like they're part of something bigger. That may sound a bit silly as a motivational tool, but consider that Smule's Sonic Lighter application for the iPhone is popular, despite the fact that it costs 99 cents more than its free competition, likely because people can see where else on the globe people are using it and because the longer you run the application, the bigger your own spot on the map becomes. It's a kind of competition.


Twitter benefiting from US presidential election debates:


Twitter usage and sign-ups received a healthy boost during last Friday’s first presidential debate for the 08 campaign. The official Twitter blog reports that, despite Friday traditionally being a slow traffic day:

  • Friday updates jumped 18.5% from previous Friday.

  • Updates during the debate increased 160% compared to same time last week.

  • Signups on Friday were up 23%.

  • Signups during the debate were up 135% compared to same time last week.


Although, as Wired notes, the shot in arm for Twitter also co-incided with the company’s launch of a dedicated politics tracker - Twitter’s new Election 2008 site - and the blog/mainstream media attention that followed. Of course the fact that this has translated into increased sign-ups and use suggests that chicken or egg, the strategy is paying off.

Part of Cindy McCain's "Personal" Trip to Asia, Paid for on McCain Campaign's Dime

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Early last week, a reader flagged a report in the online newspaper Narco News which noted an interesting FEC expense filing from the McCain campaign from June. The filing listed expenses for hotels and airline tickets in Singapore and Vietnam -- that seemed to correlate with a trip that Cindy McCain took in June to Southeast Asia. The campaign charges seemed at odds with statements made both by Cindy and the campaign at the time, which said that the trip was for "non-campaign" and "humanitarian" reasons.

The filings list $12,316 in air travel on Thai Airways International, British Airways and Air Singapore, as well as $4,886 in hotel stays for the Raffles Hotel in Singapore and the Caravelle Hotel and "Vinpers Resort" in Vietnam.

But the filings didn't specify who the expenses were for, so TPMmuckraker called the McCain camp, and like NarcoNews, received no response to inquiries on the expense filings or the trip.

Stonewalled by the campaign, we started calling hotels listed to see if Cindy or Meghan had stayed there on their trip which had been part of Cindy's ongoing work with poor children in Southeast Asia -- primarily with the charity Operation Smile.

We found that "Vinpers Resort Spa," is the Vinpearl Resort Spa. Vinpearl Hotel administrators confirmed to TPMmuckraker that both Cindy and Meghan McCain were guests there on the night of June 18th, which was also mentioned in local news reports at the time.

So the campaign expenses were in fact tied to Cindy and Meghan's trip, which seemed sharply at odds with what the campaign and Cindy herself described as a solely "humanitarian" mission:

"This is what I do, and this is what revitalizes me, personally," Cindy McCain is quoted as saying in an AP article from June 10th. "The campaign is extremely important, of course, but this is also important to me, and so you try to balance everything."

The personal, non-campaign nature of the trip was stressed by McCain's own staff who said that the excursion was "private and not related to the political campaign," according to a June 19 report from the French news service the AFP.

Our initial calls to the camp still unreturned, we called again -- but this time asking for a comment on the Cindy's stay at the Vinpearl. We got a response within an hour.

In a conversation with TPMmuckraker, Cindy McCain's press aide confirmed that two campaign aides accompanied Meghan and Cindy on their trip.

"There was a press aide and another press advance person who went along and that the campaign paid for," Cindy McCain's spokesperson Laurye Blackford told us, adding that Cindy and Meghan paid their own way and the way of their guests.

Blackford also confirmed that following her trip to Southeast Asia, Cindy McCain did participate in a campaign function -- she and Megan attended a fundraiser for the campaign in London on June 26.

It is unclear whether this would qualify the whole of the McCain's trip to Asia as a travel expense under FEC guidelines.

RNC promotes great Obama initiatives

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Post courtesy of DailyKOS:

The GOP has an "Obama Spendometer" page that has listed a lot of fantastic Obama priorities.

So on National Security:

Obama Would Implement The Lugar-Obama Legislation To Crack Down On The Smuggling Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction.

You see, this is bad because it would cost $440 million per year, which is far worse than letting terrorists smuggle nuclear weapons. I suppose this means that the GOP is now objectively pro-smuggling of WMDs since they harp on it some more:
Obama Would "Lead A Global Effort To Secure All Nuclear Weapons And Material At Vulnerable Sites Within Four Years."

That's crazy talk! John McCain wouldn't waste your taxpayer dollars on securing nuclear weapons. Vote for him!
Obama Will Provide $2 Billion To Aid Iraqi Refugees.

Obama Would Add "65,000 Soldiers To The Army And 27,000 Marines," Which Would Cost Approximately $11.04 Billion Per Year, Equal To $44.16 Billion Over Four Years.

Obama Would Provide An Additional $1 Billion Per Year In Non-Military Assistance To Afghanistan, Equal To $4 Billion Over Four Years.

On Education:
Obama's Early Education And K-12 Package Will Cost $18 Billion A Year; Equal To $72 Billion Over Four Years.

Obama Would Assist High School Students With Obtaining Access To College-Level Courses.

Obama Would Provide $25 Million A Year For States To Develop Early Assessment Programs To Increase College Readiness; Equal To $100 Million Over Four Years.

Obama Would Provide $250 Million To "Bring Quality Teachers Back To The Gulf Region."

Obama Will Increase The Maximum Pell Grant To $5,400 And Ensure The Grant Keeps Pace With The Rising Cost Of College Inflation.

On Jobs:
Obama Would Double Funding For The Jobs Access And Reverse Commute (JARC) Program.

Obama Will Provide $1 Billion Over 5 Years For Transitional Jobs And Career Pathway Programs, Equal To $200 Million A Year And $800 Million Over Four Years.

Obama Has Proposed Creating "A National Network Of Public-Private Business Incubators" At A Cost Of $250 Million Per Year; Equal To $1 Billion Over Four Years.

Obama Would Extend Trade Adjustment Assistance To Service Industries.

Obama Would Expand Loan Programs For Small Businesses, As Specified In The Small Business Lending Reauthorization And Improvements Act He Co-Sponsored.

Obama Proposed Spending $90 Million A Year To Double The Manufacturing Extension Partnership; Equal To $360 Million Over Four Years.

On Family Values:
Obama Will Provide $1.5 Billion To Help States Adopt Paid-Leave Systems.

Obama Would Enact The Responsible Fatherhood And Healthy Families Act Which He Co-Sponsored.

Obama Would Spend $1 Billion A Year In Autism-Related Funding By The End Of His First Term.

On Consumer Protections:
Obama's Home Foreclosure Prevention Fund Will Cost $10 Billion.

Obama Has Proposed A Credit Card Rating System, To Be Implemented By The FTC.

Obama Proposes Doubling Funding For The Consumer Product Safety Commission.

On Health Care:
Obama's Health Care Plan Will Cost $150 Billion; Equal To $600 Billion Over Four Years.

Obama Would Close The "Doughnut Hole" In The Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program.

Obama Would Increase PEPFAR Funding By $2 Billion.

This is Bush's AIDS program. They're attacking Obama for promising to continue one of Bush's programs.

On Veterans Care:

Obama Would Ensure Full Health Care Enrollment Of "Priority 8" Veterans.

On Disaster Preparedness:
Obama Supports Creating A National Catastrophe Fund, Similar To The One Passed By The House - Which Authorized $20 Million Per Year For The Fund; Equal To $80 Million Over Four Years.

Apparently, the GOP prefers more of the Katrina model...

On Community Services:

Obama Would Spend $500 Million A Year For Religious Organizations To Help The Disadvantaged; Equal To $2 Billion Over Four Years.

Yeah, faith-based initiatives are bad!
Obama Says He Will Restore Funding To The Community Development Block Grant Program.

On Energy:
Obama's Energy Plan Will Cost $150 Billion Over 10 Years, Equal To $15 Billion Annually And $60 Billion Over Four Years.

On Rebuilding Our Crumbling Roads and Bridges:
Obama's National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank Will Cost $60 Billion Over Ten Years; Equal To $6 Billion A Year And $24 Billion Over Four Years.

Republicans want more bridges to collapse.

It's a bit shocking, and really hilarious, that the GOP thinks highlighting things like "Obama wants to secure loose nuclear weapons" and "Obama wants to fund veteran health care" are political winners.

And it rings hollow for Republicans to whine about $1.238 trillion in "new spending over one White House term" when we've just suffered through eight years of the freest-spending administration in US history. Whether it's hundreds of billions of annual dollars in wars and nation building, or $1 trillion bailing out the GOP's irresponsible friends on Wall Street, fact is, the GOP has no moral authority to talk about spending.

With no fanfare and little notice, the national debt has grown by more than $4 trillion during George W. Bush’s presidency.

It’s the biggest increase under any president in U.S history.

On the day President Bush took office, the national debt stood at $5.727 trillion. The latest number from the Treasury Department shows the national debt now stands at more than $9.849 trillion. That’s a 71.9 percent increase on Mr. Bush’s watch.


And that's not even including the cost of the bailout, which contrary to spin, will never pay for itself. It's time for an administration that 1) spends money on programs people want, and 2) increases revenues to pay for them and for the out-of-control spending of the Bush years.

Barbour: In a McCain administration,’ Palin will ‘not have much of a role in foreign policy.’

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During an interview with NPR this morning, John McCain said he routinely turns to Sarah Palin for foreign policy advice. “I’ve turned to her advice many times in the past,” McCain said in response to a question about whether Palin would be one of his foreign policy advisers. But McCain’s message was contradicted by one of his surrogates, Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS):

Obviously in a McCain administration she would not have much of a role in foreign policy because of his depth of experience and the people around him. … But in a McCain administration, her role substantively is gonna be primarily – in my opinion – about energy.

Watch video of Barbour’s remarks here.

Was McCain's 'Suspending the Campaign' Stunt an Attempt at Palin Damage Control?

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Quoted from the Anonymous Liberal blog:

I'm serious. The more I look at what happened today, the more I think it was all an elaborate attempt to stem the fallout from the truly disastrous interview Sarah Palin taped this morning with Katie Couric. In that interview, Palin did two things that hurt the McCain campaign and, but for McCain's late afternoon shenanigans, would have garnered much more attention. First, buying into the premise of one of Couric's questions, she all but stated that if no bailout legislation is passed, we'll be headed into the next Great Depression. Even if true, that's not a very smart thing for a politician to say and, importantly, it all but foreclosed any possibility of McCain voting against the bailout.

Then she was asked a crucially important question about McCain's record on banking regulation, something she should have been prepped for:

For those of you who can't view videos, here's the exchange:

COURIC: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

PALIN: He's also known as the maverick, though. Taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about — the need to reform government.

COURIC: I'm just going to ask you one more time, not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation?

PALIN: I'll try to find you some, and I'll bring them to you.


That is not a good soundbite. Not only does it confirm that Palin is in way over her head, but every time the clip is played, viewers get to hear Couric point out that McCain has a 26 year record of not favoring regulations.

While there's certainly a lot going on right now, I'm pretty confident that if McCain hadn't engaged in his late afternoon theatrics, those two Palin clips would have been in heavy circulation tonight and tomorrow, especially in light of the mini-press corps revolt that everyone was talking about yesterday.

I think the McCain campaign knew the Couric interview would be a disaster as soon as it was done taping and spent much of the day frantically trying to think of a way to push it out of the headlines. The clincher for me is the fact that McCain cancelled his Letterman appearance at the last second and instead sat down for an impromptu interview with, of all people, Katie Couric. The hope was to bump the Palin interview even on the CBS Evening News, which otherwise would have hyped and teased the Palin interview all afternoon and used it to lead the broadcast. Instead, CBS devoted most of its coverage to McCain and played segments of the Palin interview almost as an afterthought. Mission accomplished.

Now the McCain campaign is trying to reschedule the Vice Presidential debate. Undoubtedly they'd like to move it back as far as possible to give Palin more time to prepare. And it wouldn't shock me if they tried to cancel it all together or at least move it to a date where it can only dominate one or two new cycles before being eclipsed by other events (like a presidential debate).

Palin's favorability ratings have been sinking rapidly over the last two weeks and she is increasingly becoming a liability to McCain among independent voters. I think the campaign was worried that her performance today--if the media chose to dwell on it--could have done real lasting harm to McCain. And so they came up with this stunt, this idea of McCain "suspending" his candidacy, as a distraction. I'm sure that's not the only reason they did this, but I think it was one of the primary reasons. I'm hopeful that people will see this as the gimmick that it is. But regardless, it did succeed in dominating the news cycle and minimizing the attention that was paid to Palin's interview.

UPDATE: Okay, here's the full segment. It's cringe-inducing throughout. As you're watching it, try to picture McCain's aides standing in the background panicking.