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More Than Gimmicks: How Obama's Tech Tools Are Shifting the Debate YouTube

More Than Gimmicks: How Obama's Tech Tools Are Shifting the Debate

Critics deride the White House's fondness for platforms like Google Plus and web petitions, but they're proving effective at surfacing issues the media would otherwise ignore.

Ron Paul vs. RonPaul.com: How Coalitions Crack Up in the Internet Age Reuters

Ron Paul vs. RonPaul.com: How Coalitions Crack Up in the Internet Age

The retired representative is at odds with fans over a site bearing his name. As permanent political campaigns come to the web, expect more fights like this.

How Organizing for Action Plans to Keep Obama's Foot Soldiers Enlisted OFA

How Organizing for Action Plans to Keep Obama's Foot Soldiers Enlisted

With the election over, Democrats hope to keep the campaign infrastructure churning -- but a volunteer conference this weekend shows they have their work cut out for them.

What We've Really Lost to the Fiscal Cliff: A Sense of Form Larry Downing/Reuters

What We've Really Lost to the Fiscal Cliff: A Sense of Form

Congress is like a college student who packs to go back to school at the last minute using a plastic garbage bag as luggage -- and that's bad for everyone.

Data vs. Gurus: Democrats Say Metrics Are Eclipsing the Consultant Class Nancy Scola

Data vs. Gurus: Democrats Say Metrics Are Eclipsing the Consultant Class

In a new, numbers-based world, progressive conferees at RootsCamp see lucrative work for wise men drying up. How fast will conservatives catch up?

The Social-Network Effect That Is Helping Legalize Gay Marriage Reuters

The Social-Network Effect That Is Helping Legalize Gay Marriage

How peer-to-peer networking tool Amicus helped activists in Minnesota and Washington win same-sex-marriage campaigns

Why It's Going to Be Hard for Republicans to Match the Big-Data Advantage Democrats Have Built Darren Hauck/Reuters

Why It's Going to Be Hard for Republicans to Match the Big-Data Advantage Democrats Have Built

Democrats' history of community organizing has made their current data-driven approach a seamless advance.

Hurricane Sandy Is a Reminder of Why 'Obama Phones' Exist The White House/Flickr

Hurricane Sandy Is a Reminder of Why 'Obama Phones' Exist

The country has a strong safety interest in subsidizing communications for low-income people.

What the Big 1960s Debate in Anthropology Can Tell Us About Mitt Romney Reuters

What the Big 1960s Debate in Anthropology Can Tell Us About Mitt Romney

The idea of transactionalism helps explain why the candidate is having trouble selling his world view.

The (Literal) Ugliness of the 2012 Campaign Obama for America

The (Literal) Ugliness of the 2012 Campaign

In 2008, the Obama team dazzled with design. This year, not so much.

What It's Like to Be Filmmaker to the President BarackObama.com / YouTube

What It's Like to Be Filmmaker to the President

In his new book, former Obama staffer Arun Chaudhary dishes about his experiences as the first official White House videographer.

All the President's Mystery Men (and Women) Reuters

All the President's Mystery Men (and Women)

While campaigns trumpet their VP picks, voters get little insight into who might staff a president-to-be's cabinet -- and help set administration policy. Should that change?

In Bloomberg's Healthy NYC, Still Afraid to Take (on) Sick Days Reuters

In Bloomberg's Healthy NYC, Still Afraid to Take (on) Sick Days

Why is regulating soda size okay -- but mandating sick days taboo? It's more complicated than you think.

A Tour of the Self-Contained, Design-Happy City of Obamaland Nancy Scola

A Tour of the Self-Contained, Design-Happy City of Obamaland

Obama doesn't just denounce outsourcing on the stump. His campaign HQ is a living test of the theory that everything can be done best in-house.

Rashomon on the Hill: Why Every House Committee Has Two Websites Daniel D. Snyder/Daiei Film

Rashomon on the Hill: Why Every House Committee Has Two Websites

Online policies adopted in the 20th century give the public only partisan takes on what their representatives are up to.

The Fraught Mobile Politics of the United States of Amercia [Sic] Screenshot

The Fraught Mobile Politics of the United States of Amercia [Sic]

Will voters care about a sloppy spelling? Of course not. But the incident shows the dangers of politics in Apple's environment, where the company has total control.

With 'Dashboard,' Obama Campaign Aims to Bridge Online and Off Juan Camilo Bernal / Shutterstock

With 'Dashboard,' Obama Campaign Aims to Bridge Online and Off

The tool has more horsepower under the hood than might be obvious, but it still depends on volunteers willing to spend lots of their own time.

At Campaign Fundraisers, Obama's Tech Staffers Are the Stars  U.S. State Department / Blue State Digital

At Campaign Fundraisers, Obama's Tech Staffers Are the Stars

The president's digital campaign team is the main attraction at recent fundraisers, enticing tech-focused donors with an inside peek into the reelection operation.

A Dated, Simplified View of Political Corruption in 'Knife Fight' Divisadero Pictures, Knife Fight

A Dated, Simplified View of Political Corruption in 'Knife Fight'

The independent movie plots the tangles of money, sex, and politics, but it seems geared toward an audience unfamiliar with the genre.

ALEC Cuts Controversial Task Force Fibonacci Blue/Flickr

ALEC Cuts Controversial Task Force

The American Legislative Exchange Council announced it will shut down the council that fostered state "Stand Your Ground" laws. But that might be only a superficial change.

Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All Connected Reuters

Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All Connected

How a shadowy organization uses corporate contributions to sell prepackaged conservative bills -- such as Florida's Stand Your Ground statute -- to legislatures across the country.

Romney's Sandwich-Gate, the Movie Revolutionmessaging/YouTube

Romney's Sandwich-Gate, the Movie

Can a free lunch buy a vote? A filmmaker and former Obama videographer decries, via talking hoagie, the GOP candidate's "sandwiches for votes" program.

Why Obama Really Wants to Make It in the Movies YouTube

Why Obama Really Wants to Make It in the Movies

A Davis Guggenheim-directed Obama ad is full of boldface names and sweeping images, but its rollout shows that the medium really is the message.

Inside the Mustached-American Movement AMI

Inside the Mustached-American Movement

Aaron Perlut, founder of the American Mustache Institute, explains how through comedy, the internet, and some actual lobbying, a "joke" can influence the national dialog.

Politics Q&A: Who Will Win the Latino Vote?

Politics Q&A: Who Will Win the Latino Vote?

Maria Teresa Kumar of Voto Latino talks about the 2012 election, social media and why both parties are failing Hispanics.

Mutts Mobilize in Midtown Against Mitt Getty Images

Mutts Mobilize in Midtown Against Mitt

Dogs Against Romney protests against the occasional Republican front-runner outside the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

The Interview: Aneesh Chopra Steve Jurvetson

The Interview: Aneesh Chopra

The outgoing chief technology officer of the United States talks about MacGyvering an innovations policy for the country.

What It's Like When Google Comes to Your House for a Presidential Chat Whitehouse.gov

What It's Like When Google Comes to Your House for a Presidential Chat

In an online "hangout" with Americans, Obama found a tough questioner in a 29-year-old mother from Texas.

The Darkest Day in the History of American Super PACs Dim Dimich / Shutterstock

The Darkest Day in the History of American Super PACs

When it comes to campaign spending, we know only a fraction of the information we have the ability to know.

How the Internet Has Become an Outlet for Lonely Teens—and Barack Obama Reuters

How the Internet Has Become an Outlet for Lonely Teens—and Barack Obama

More than a stunt, the president's upcoming Google+ Hangout might be a real and rare chance for him to interact with citizens.

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