This morning, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Holmes Report’s ThinkTank Live event here in Washington, DC where I discussed the evolving media landscape and the role of social media in shaping politics and public policy. In preparation, I got to thinking about how social media was impacting the election process this early in the race. Between the Romney-Perry video battles and the buzz around Herman Cain’s “smoking” ad featuring his chief of staff Mark Block, it was a perfect week to perform a little deeper analysis.

So, I decided to take a look at how some of the top presidential contenders were using various social media platforms. Specifically, I set out to aggregate data to include the number Facebook likes, Twitter followers, YouTube views, Foursquare fans, Flickr photos, LinkedIn friends and Google+ circles. Of course, when measuring ultimate campaign success, it’s not just about numbers but I do think that they can be an indication as to whether a candidate is building support or if specific messages are resonating (i.e. Cain’s 9-9-9 plan).

While researching, I looked for the official 2012 campaign accounts even though there might be other user accounts related to the same candidate. For example, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN-6th) has an official Twitter account (@MicheleBachmann) with over 108k followers that her Congressional office maintains which is different than the account (@TeamBachmann) that her presidential campaign uses.

Sometimes it was easy to differentiate between several accounts because most of the official campaign websites provide links and/or widgets to their social media properties so I didn’t have to rely on search to find the best account. In other cases, it was difficult to locate the proper accounts because they were lost among parody and/or “unofficial” pages likely set-up by supporters.

Below is the complete list of accounts that I was able to locate. Click on the icon that runs horizontally across from the candidate’s name to view the related campaign social media property or group.

	Facebook	Twitter	YouTube	Foursquare	Flickr	LinkedIn	Google+
Obama							X
Romney							X
Perry
Paul				X
Bachmann				X		X	X
Cain
Huntsman*				X	X	X
Gingrich					X

The final issue was to determine the order of how I should list each of the candidates. My first instinct was to do so in alphabetical order by last name in the spirit of fairness. Then I considered doing it based on early poll performances, however, I ultimately decided to list them based on what really matters at this point in the race… money in the bank. I used the “Total Money Raised” data provided by Roaring Republican, which posted the latest Third Quarter 2011 Fundraising Numbers as of October 18, 2011.

Key Takeaways

• Clearly, the power of incumbency is a huge advantage for President Obama. Picking up where he left off after Campaign 2008, the Obama camp now boasts over 23.7M Facebook likes and 10.8M Twitter followers. In fact, the president is the first politician to crack 10M followers and the only non-entertainer in the Twitter Top 10). Basically, he overpowers everyone in the GOP field in almost every category with only two exceptions: 1) President Obama himself did not have a profile on Google+ and 2) the Obama campaign didn’t have a presence on Foursquare. However, the White House does have a branded Foursquare page so I included that in the grid.

  Earlier this week, the Obama 2012 campaign broke new ground when they launched a new page on the popular micro-blogging platform Tumblr which will serve as an ideal host to various forms of digital content and social media sharing.

• On the other side of the aisle, it’s a pretty crowded Republican field but former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney seems to be emerging as the one to beat as we near primary season — but it’s still early. Romney finishes way ahead of his GOP counterparts on Facebook with 1.1M likes with Ron Paul at a distant second with 565k. Romney has the third most Twitter followers but is second to last on YouTube with only 1.8M total upload views of his 57 videos.

• Earlier today, it was reported that Godfather’s Pizza CEO and political newcomer Herman Cain is performing surprisingly well in initial primary state polling placing second behind Romney in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. He’s holding his own in social media, though some of that may be misleading since the most recent “smoking” video attained about 1M views since it was posted on October 19th due to some criticism and scrutiny as to the message behind it. Again, the numbers are impressive but one could argue that it’s not helping the campaign. In addition, he has only raised about $5M so the question remains as to whether he can sustain his poll numbers, continue to build more support, increase his financial position and pose a serious challenge for the nomination.

• Meanwhile, Texas Governor Rick Perry still enjoys broad support and has a decent amount of cash on hand but his decision to skip some of the upcoming debates, likely after perceived poor performances in the past, has many wondering whether he’s up to the task. Governor Perry and Herman Cain are the only two candidates in the top tier who have a social media presence on all seven of the social media outlets evaluated, though admittedly there’s some confusion on a couple of the accounts as to whether some of Perry’s content was generated due to his role as Governor of Texas or whether it was officially posted as part of the presidential campaign. For example, 13k photos on Flickr seem to be a mix of both — and that’s a ton of photos but nowhere close to the 56k that President Obama has posted, in addiiton to the 52 sets of photos on the official White House Flickr photostream.

• Texas Congressman Ron Paul enjoys very strong support online and much of that dates back to Campaign 2008. There are still digital remnants from the race four years ago and it appears that he’s continued to use the “/ronpaul” username consistently across all accounts for quite some time which will certainly skew the numbers a bit. In other words, it’s unclear how many joined his current cause as opposed to 2008, but in some ways it doesn’t matter. Those who supported him in the last cycle may still be loyal this time around and probably explains why he has been able to build up a relatively healthy campaign war chest.

• The Team Bachmann approach is interesting and makes it clear that there’s a distinction between Rep. Michele Bachmann‘s presidential bid and her role in the U.S. Congress. Of course, there are limitations when posting official tweets vs. campaign updates (i.e. requests for donations) so it’s good to see that they have drawn a line firmly between the two. Almost 460k people like Rep. Bachmann on Facebook and it seems that is her strongest social media outlet with Twitter and YouTube close behind.

• Perhaps what is most interesting is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) is dead last in Facebook likes at 157k but wins decisively in every other social media platform with 1.3M followers on Twitter, almost 5M total upload views of 184 videos, 2,800 Foursquare followers and has been added in over 16k circles on Google+. Oddly, no Flickr page for the Speaker but there are over 270 photos posted to Facebook. Yet, despite these impressive numbers, strong name ID and regular media appearances over the years, Newt has only managed to raise $2.6M which is at rock bottom on this list and poses a real threat to the future of his campaign.

Bottom Line

Speaker Gingrich wins hands down when it comes to his digital share of voice but finishes dead last in fundraising. Governor Romney has a strong online presence, as well, and his support seems to be growing the most rapidly both online and off. Herman Cain is making a strong run in the polls but the ability to sustain and raise money will determine how long he remains in the race through the primary season.

It will be interesting to see how these numbers and donations change over the next several months and I’ll plan to post an update as the race matures. In the meantime, would love to hear your thoughts, as well.

As stated at the outset of this post — we are about a year away from the ultimate poll, Election Day 2012. On that day, the only friends and followers that matter to candidates are those that cast their votes!

Here’s a short video that the Holmes Report asked me to post to help promote today’s event. In it, I briefly discuss the importance of social media in the political process.

UPDATE 10/28/11*
Former Utah Governor and GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman gained some steam via YouTube when his daughters posted their parody “smoking” video in response to the Cain ad. However, the popular video was posted on a separate account instead of the official Jon2012HQ YouTube channel with 69 videos and over 269k total views. Incidentally, the campaign also has a Jon2012 Vimeo account linked directly from their website. I didn’t include the Huntsman campaign in the original tally, but after the video was released I decided to go back and take another look. Links to the Jon 2012 social media accounts have been added to the chart above. On Twitter, the @Jon2012girls have almost 8k followers which is impressive, especially considering that their father’s campaign account nears 46k. About half as many people support Huntsman on Facebook with almost 22k likes.

UPDATE 11/4/11
For those wondering if the current sexual harrasment allegations leveled at Herman Cain from his time at the National Restaurant Association are hurting his campaign, the answer is that it may be too early to tell. His poll numbers seem to be holding strong and both his Facebook and Twitter support increased with 329,515 likes and 153,506 followers respectively since 10/27/11. However, the real measurement will be whether funds will continue to pour in. If his presidential bid is to survive, there’s no question that this Wednesday’s CNBC GOP debate will be an important night for Cain to demostrate resilience and strength in the face of controversy.

We discussed the new Kindle, Apple price fixing allegations, President Obama’s “We the People” petition via WhiteHouse.gov, government and social media, crowdsourcing, ID spoofing and much more.

Here are the show notes for TWiL #131: All You Need is Seven Inches.

Of course, President Obama’s team isn’t exactly new to Twitter — and neither is the White House. His official @whitehouse Twitter account has been in use since April 2009 and his @BarackObama campaign handle launched in March 2007. Today, the campaign’s Twitter feed seems to be in full re-election mode with almost 9 million followers and the #Obama2012 staff working to keep it updated with both campaign and official White House news.

So, what’s new? The most recent activity of note is that the president himself is beginning to tweet.

Officially, his first tweet was back on January 18, 2010 when President Obama “pushed the button” on a tweet from the @RedCross account. He and Mrs. Obama were visiting Red Cross headquarters to tour the disaster operations center and discuss Haiti relief efforts.

Fast forward 17 months later to June 19, 2011 when the president actually tweeted this message on Father’s Day, “Being a father is sometimes my hardest but always my most rewarding job. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. -BO” The campaign indicated that future posts by the Commander-in-Chief would be designated by a “-BO” signature.

Last week the White House announced plans to host an inaugural Twitter Townhall (HT Alex Howard) on July 6, 2011 moderated by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

From the release, “White House to Host Twitter @TOWNHALL” on June 30, 2011:

Today, the White House announced through its official Twitter account, @whitehouse, that it will host its first ever Twitter town hall on Wednesday, July 6 at 2 PM ET in the East Room of the White House. Twitter co-founder and Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey will moderate a conversation between President Obama and Americans across the country about the economy and jobs. Starting today, twitter users can submit questions using the hashtag #AskObama. More information from Twitter can be found at the event’s homepage: http://askobama.twitter.com.

Today, the White House also announced its first “Tweetup.” A portion of the Twitter town hall’s live audience will be drawn from people who follow @whitehouse and visit whitehouse.gov/tweetup to sign up. This “Tweetup” will be the first one the White House hosts; future Tweetups will provide @whitehouse followers with the opportunity to attend events, engage with Administration officials, and share their ideas with other @whitehouse followers.

Just today on Independence Day, Vice President Joe Biden joined the Twitter conversation with the launch of his official @VP account. Of course, with only 3,700 followers (at the time of this post), he has a long way to go before catching up with his Democratic veep predecessor Al Gore with 2.2 million, but he’s off to a good start with this first tweet.

In addition to @whitehouse with its 2.25 million followers, several other White House offices, programs and staffers also maintain Twitter accounts including Let’s Move! (@letsmove), Joining Forces (@joiningforces), White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (@PressSec), Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer (@pfeiffer44), Director of Progressive Media & Online Response Jesse Lee (@jesseclee44), Director of Digital Strategy Macon Phillips (@macon44), and White House Photographer Pete Souza (@petesouza).

Clearly, as Campaign 2012 gears up, all of this new activity means that the Excel spreadsheet with official social media account usernames and passwords continues to grow — while a number of official dot gov websites are headed for the “chopping block.”

Will all of these accounts be actively used for sustained engagement or become dormant after they are no longer needed? The issue of transition is an important one — and even the current White House received some criticism when they first came to office for their delay in updating the @BarackObama Twitter feed in the weeks between Election Day in November 2008 and Inauguration on January 20, 2009.

More recently, there was a sizable gap in usage of the White House Press Secretary Twitter handle @PressSec in the transition between Robert Gibbs and Jay Carney back in February 2011. (PHOTO)

Of course, transition is always challenging and whether it’s in two years or six, it is bound to happen again and one has to wonder what will happen to all those official social media sites? Obviously, this is a subject that merits deeper thinking and at the very least — probably a future blog post!

There was confusion when @TheWhiteHouse, launched in September 2007 during President George W. Bush’s Administration, was wiped out after President Obama’s White House officially joined Twitter.

In either case, engagement and interaction with our leaders is always a good thing regardless of the medium — whether the questions and answers are sent via handwritten letter, audio, email, video or even 140 characters.

UPDATE

More details on the #AskObama Town Hall. (Twitter blog, 7/5/11)

To have your voice heard, tweet your questions on the economy and be sure to include the hashtag #AskObama. You can track the conversation in three great ways: Watch the event live at http://askobama.twitter.com, follow live Tweets from @townhall, or search the hashtag #AskObama.

MEDIA

VIDEO: President Obama White House Twitter Town Hall Meeting (C-SPAN)

Twitter town hall: Obama tops 140 characters (Julie Mason, Politico)

Obama Averaged 2,099 Characters in His Twitter Answers (Michael Shear, New York Times)

@USChamber Crashes WH Twitter Party (FamousDC)

Obama faces deluge of tweets on jobs in Twitter town hall (Mimi Hall and David Jackson, USA Today)

Who Didn’t Participate in Twitter’s Town Hall? (Jesse Thomas, JESS3 via Forbes)

RELATED

Remarks by the President in Twitter Town Hall (The White House) | Watch the entire event via the White House YouTube channel.

Video: The President Tweets from the White House (The White House Blog)

Citizen Engagement in the Digital Age

When Barack Obama was sworn-in as the 44th President of the United States in January 2009, much was written about his campaign’s effective use of digital and social media tools to build support, reach new audiences and engage younger voters. Many credit those efforts as being critical to his successful bid for the White House.

Once in office, it was largely expected that the Obama Administration would utilize similar digital strategies for government application. They set out to build on the foundation laid by their predecessors by seeking to leverage emerging digital outlets to better serve and connect with Americans while simultaneously adapting to a rapidly evolving media landscape. The same was true for Capitol Hill.

Growing, Growing, Gone?

The 2010 Capital Staffers Index demonstrates significant increases in digital media including four-times the usage of Facebook compared to three years ago, nearly double for text messaging, almost three-times for blogs and over five-times worth of growth for Twitter. During key policy debates on issues such as the economy, jobs, healthcare, national security, energy and immigration, constituents flocked to the Internet to make their voices heard.

Members of Congress and Hill staffers quickly learned how to navigate in these new channels through direct constituent engagement and the creation of content best suited for social media and networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. In many cases, such content was embedded on official House and Senate “dot gov” sites to augment message reach, optimize digital footprints and increase the opportunity for sharing across various social platforms.

In May 2010, the House Republican leadership even created their own unique digital channel with the launch of “America Speaking Out.” The site was built to serve as an online clearinghouse for crowd-sourced policy ideas with the best rising to the top based on community votes. However, sites like this aren’t designed with the intent of completely replacing traditional methods of contacting Congress such as in-person meetings, phone calls, letters and e-mail which are all still effective in many ways. Rather, they simply open up new avenues to connect.

Similarly, though the rise in social media and digital engagement is remarkable, let’s be careful not to write obituaries for mainstream media outlets just yet. Newsrooms may be shrinking but according to the survey results, their influence on Capitol Hill sure isn’t. For staffers, online news sites remain valuable and consistently rank far above social networks, blogs and social media with the highest usage (64%) occurring from 9 AM to 10 AM and the lowest (42%) from 5 PM to 6 PM.

The Key To Surfing Is… Timing

One of the most interesting findings in the 2010 Capital Staffers Index is how online activity trends throughout the day. Heavy traffic for online news sites early in the morning are likely due to staff who are preparing for briefings, conducting research or just getting caught up on the news of the day.

For the most part, social networks run a distant second in usage percentage when to compared online news sites with two exceptions where they experience significant spikes both during the lunch hour (31% from 12 PM to 1 PM) and at the end of a typical work day (tied with online news at 46% after 6 PM). This would seem to suggest that Hill staffers utilize social networking sites all day for both personal and professional purposes, with an emphasis on the personal during perceived down time.

The Next Wave

Two short years after President Obama’s historic victory, the political tide seems to be turning once again. Perhaps the November 2010 midterm election will most certainly be remembered for the GOP’s sweeping wins, especially in the House of Representatives where Republicans netted over 60 seats, the biggest gain since 1938 when the Democrats lost 71.

In preparation for the start of the 112th Congress, freshman members will endure orientations, elect party leadership, set legislative agendas, learn shortcuts from their new offices to committee rooms, attend briefings and of course, hire various key staff. Many likely campaigned heavily online – but now politicians and staffers alike find themselves in positions of power with great responsibility where they must learn to govern online, as well.

For those who are either unable to accept or unwilling to embrace these new communications realities, perhaps these words from American philosopher, writer and 1983 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Eric Hoffer will serve as encouragement, “In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

Tomorrow, November 9, 2010, President Bush breaks his silence with the official release of his new book, Decision Points.

In it, he takes a self-described “untraditional approach” to writing his life’s memoir by providing a unique perspective of his presidency and focusing on the most demanding part of the job… making decisions.

From the Amazon.com website:

In gripping, never-before-heard detail, President Bush brings readers inside the Texas Governor’s Mansion on the night of the hotly contested 2000 election; aboard Air Force One on 9/11, in the hours after America’s most devastating attack since Pearl Harbor; at the head of the table in the Situation Room in the moments before launching the war in Iraq; and behind the Oval Office desk for his historic and controversial decisions on the financial crisis, Hurricane Katrina, Afghanistan, Iran, and other issues that have shaped the first decade of the 21st century.

President Bush writes honestly and directly about his flaws and mistakes, as well as his accomplishments reforming education, treating HIV/AIDS in Africa, and safeguarding the country amid chilling warnings of additional terrorist attacks. He also offers intimate new details on his decision to quit drinking, discovery of faith, and relationship with his family.

A groundbreaking new brand of memoir, Decision Points will captivate supporters, surprise critics, and change perspectives on one of the most consequential eras in American history – and the man at the center of events.

In addition to the traditional hard copy of the book, some readers may alternatively choose to purchase the digital eBook version (see video below). There’s also an accompanying toolkit for those interested in spreading the word about the book, sharing their thoughts via social media and ordering online.

On October 16, a contest to interview the former president in Dallas, Texas was launched via the official George W. Bush Facebook page. This past Saturday, it was announced that Wyatt Smith, a 22-year old college graduate from Alabama, was selected as the winner and after viewing his video, I’m confident that he will represent the “Facebook Generation” quite well.

In coordination with the book launch, below is a list of President Bush’s scheduled interviews with various media outlets over the next couple weeks. Set your TiVos!

Monday, November 8, 2010
8 PM EST – Matt Lauer, NBC

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Check Listings – Oprah Winfrey (Local Affiliate)*
1 PM EST – Rush Limbaugh (Local Radio Affiliate)
3-6 PM EST (TBD) – Sean Hannity (Local Radio Affiliate)
9 PM EST – Sean Hannity, Fox News Channel

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
7 AM (local) – TODAY (in studio) w/ Matt Lauer, NBC

Thursday, November 11, 2010
8 PM EST – The O’Reilly Factor with Bill O’Reilly, Fox News Channel

Friday, November 12, 2010
10 PM EST – On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Fox News Channel

Saturday, November 13, 2010
9 PM EST – Sean Hannity, Fox News Channel**

Sunday, November 14, 2010
Check listings – Jim Axelrod, CBS Sunday Morning***
9 PM EST – State of the Union with Candy Crowley, CNN****

Monday, November 15-Wednesday, November 17, 2010
7 AM EST – Fox and Friends w/ Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson & Steve Doocy, Fox News Channel

Thursday, November 18, 2010
11:30 PM EST – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC

Source: Office of George W. Bush
* includes segments with 41s.
** this is a separate interview from the one airing on November 9.
*** with Mrs. Bush.
**** with Jeb Bush.

UPDATE 11/30/10: President George W. Bush visited Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California on Cyber Monday to discuss his book Decision Points. He was joined by Facebook’s Founder & CEO Mark Zuckerberg and VP & General Counsel Ted Ullyot who served in the Bush Administration both at the White House and the Justice Department.

Monday, November 22, 2010
The Kudlow Report, CNBC

Wednesday, December 8, 2010
8:30 AM EST – Bill Bennett, Morning in America

Monday, December 13, 2010
Hugh Hewitt
Scott Hennen: Part 1 & Part 2

Sunday, January 30, 2011
Q&A with Brian Lamb, C-SPAN

For those not familiar with what this actually means, a CMS is basically the back-end (not visible to visitors) of a website that allows the administrators (owners) of the site — often non-programmers — to easily organize site navigation and add content designed to appear on the front-end.

For most CMS solutions, the user experience is pretty simple, usually consisting of a password protected login, options for varied user permissions for approval and forms with specific fields based on type of content such as text, photos, audio and video. Once entered and saved, the CMS stores the information in the back-end database and displays the content on the front-end when called up by a site visitor.

In the early days of the Internet, many developers created unique proprietary CMS solutions for their staff and clients to save time and streamline the process of maintaining a timely and relevant site. Today, there are hundreds of options out there to choose from. Check out this list from CMS Matrix.

Open source is basically the idea that code doesn’t have to be authored or owned by one person, group or company but rather by a public community of developers free to collaborate, write code, make updates and help advance newer software versions for all to share and benefit. For a more specific description of open source, let’s go to Wikipedia which is, ironically, a type of open source resource for defintions:

Open source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to a software’s source code. Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, which provided access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.

Before commenting on the recent upgrade, I did want to set the record straight on a couple things regarding the history of WhiteHouse.gov and the previous CMS.

To get a better understanding of the complete background, I spoke with a couple of my former White House colleagues who were federal government employees in the Office of Administration (OA) of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) back during the transition from President Clinton (42) to President Bush (43).

As I have mentioned before, in my opinion, President Clinton is truly the first Internet president, meaning he was the first to launch a White House website. Here’s what WhiteHouse.gov looked like circa November 1995. Not too shabby at the time. Evidently, in the late 90′s, updates to the site were a bit of a chore. They had to be made manually via files copied to tapes, then physically carried between floors to upload them onto the server a few times a day. Typos could mean a little more exercise that day. Toward the very end of President Clinton’s second term, an automated system was put in place but it wasn’t capable of managing an entire new site for the next four to eight years.

In 2000, with the transition to President George W. Bush’s Administration approaching, a few EOP programmers got together to create an internal homegrown Perl based solution designed to manage basic content needs for the new president’s site. Why Perl? Two reasons. First, Perl was a common programming language at the time, generally used for similar projects. Second, out of the other programming options available, those who were actually developing it knew Perl the best!

(Update from a former EOP insider: “It should also be noted that Perl was picked because the Tool started out as an e-mail to web page processing script. The original tool was developed to solve the problem of posting press releases to the web site automatically. On weekends and after hours, there was no IT staff to do it … so the tool was born of that. Perl as handler script to parse e-mail text into an HTML form and post to the web site. Then it just grew and grew… initially it was all about automation. Only during the later years [sic] did it start into more of your standard (term used loosely) CMS.”)

Out of this collaboration, a completely new and unique solution was born which we affectionately (most of the time) called, “The Tool.”

Over time, as newer site versions and features were rolled out on the front-end, the Tool scaled with it and was updated accordingly to support them including many things it wasn’t originally designed to do such as creating on-the-fly printer friendly alternative text pages (508 compliance) and digital image processing.

In March of 2007, we launched a new (and final) version of WhiteHouse.gov under President Bush. However, even with the new design and improved functionality for users, the Tool remained in place on the back-end. It was tweaked and updated, but the foundation was the same. We considered options to deploy a new CMS, but personally I wanted to be a good steward of taxpayer money and didn’t think it was prudent to spend a couple million dollars on something that was only going to be used for a year and a half or so before being shipped off to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in January 2009. As a result, the site continued using the Tool all the way up until Inauguration Day.

Several months prior to Election Day, and in a very similar scenario to the Clinton-Bush transition preparation in 2000, career federal employess in EOP’s OA division gathered to begin planning for the next president’s website — whether for Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama, nobody knew. They initiated a review of the most effificient, secure CMS solutions. After the completion of the thoughtful, competitive procurement process, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) was awarded the contract and immediately began work on a new CMS for the 44th President of the United States.

Many stories have reported that President Obama’s team inherited an “old proprietary CMS which has been used by WhiteHouse.gov since the Bush Administration” built and executed by GDIT. However, that isn’t true. As I mentioned earlier, President Bush’s website, CMS Tool and all, was taken offline at 12:00 PM ET on January 20, 2009, President Obama’s Inauguration Day, and ultimately sent to NARA.

President George W. Bush is the first digital president, meaning that he is the first to have his entire presidency captured online via WhiteHouse.gov in the form of transcripts, photos, video and audio. However, Web 2.0 and social media was just gearing up around the time I left the White House in May 2007.

Clearly, the campaign had a huge impact on the growth of the Internet through social media and rapid programming advancements (WordPress 2.8.5 is now available already? I just upgraded to 2.8.4 two weeks ago!) but many of the tools that are being used today either weren’t available to us or hadn’t been tested or matured to the point that we could utilize them effectively within the E-Gov guidelines, privacy policies, security procedures and budgetary limitations that often presented challenges.

To put it in perspective, from 2005-2007, MySpace was the most popular social network, Facebook was locked down to only college students with .edu email addresses, YouTube had recently been purchased by Google but was still growing and Twitter had just launched in March 2007 at SXSW in Austin.

There’s no question that the increased adoption of open source backend solutions in the private sector, and now in government, represents yet another evolutionary step in the rapid growth of the Internet. As these tools become more prevalent, users will be able to better connect and collaborate on shared platforms which only improves the potential for digital public engagement in shaping our democracy.

Congrats to the entire White House new media team!

Want to give it a try? You can actually demo Drupal yourself (and many other open source solutions) courtesy of opensourceCMS.com or you could save yourself some time and just go hire the best in the business!

MEDIA

Podcast: The Right Doctor with David Almacy

(Dr. Melissa Clouthier, The Right Doctor, 11/05/09)

WhiteHouse.gov goes Drupal (techPresident, 10/24/09)

RELATED

White House opens Web site programming to public (Associated Press)

Before Drupal, There Was “The Tool” (techPresident, 10/30/09)

For Drupal Enterprise Software in White House, It’s One Step Forward, One Step Back (IT Business Edge)

Whitehouse.gov could be a springboard for Open Source for America (InfoWorld)

WhiteHouse.gov on Drupal: A skeptic weighs in (OhMyGov)

Whitehouse using Drupal? (Drupal News)

President Obama has come a long way from “You Lie!” to being named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient!

Reaction around the world and in the media was certainly mixed with many feeling that this honor was bestowed way too soon – just eight months into his Presidency. In fact, the nomination application deadline for the prize was February 1, just 11 days after Obama took office. We don’t know who nominated him either and we won’t know a long time. They don’t release that information for 50 years.

The White House was clearly caught off guard. During remarks in the Rose Garden, even President Obama indicated that he felt he wasn’t quite yet deserving of the award:

I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee. Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations. … To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

The Nobel Committee evidently chose Obama based on what they hoped he might accomplish instead of what he has already achieved – as if the president didn’t already have enough pressure to tackle what’s currently on his plate.

Let’s take a quick look back. No doubt that the president has had a rough few weeks including his failed attempt to bring the 2016 Olympics to his hometown of Chicago after flying to Copenhagen to personally make the case. That prompted the Drudge Report (and others) to run with this headline: “The Ego Has Landed!”

Some have criticized conservatives for “celebrating” the loss, calling them unpatriotic. However, I don’t think their reaction was rooted in anti-Americanism but rather it was political opportunity that had the GOP reveling in his agony of defeat.

According to Gallup, Obama’s approval numbers have fallen to 51% and Republicans are beginning to emerge from their political malaise. For example, there are real opportunities to win two 2009 gubernatorial races traditionally held by Democrats (Virginia and New Jersey) and take back a sizable chunk of House and Senate seats in 2010.

Liberal attempts to characterize the president’s opponents as “crazy, racist, rightwing nut jobs” don’t seem to be sticking leaving those at the White House and the DNC concerned that Obama’s star is starting to fade — and quickly.

After all, the country is facing grave challenges in the midst of an economic crisis, increased unemployment numbers, troubled healthcare reform proposals, growing nuclear threats in Iran, missle testing in North Korea and escalating attacks in Afghanistan which have all left him wide open to criticism.

Even Saturday Night Live‘s Fred Armisen parodied the president’s long list of “accomplishments” on last week’s show, including the two most important: “jack and squat.”

Enter the Nobel Committee, stage left, with an announcement that Obama was selected “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Like most news these days, I first learned of Obama’s selection via Twitter early Friday morning. This sent many into a frenzy, and not just conservatives. Tweets had exploded and in usual fashion, it was an instant battle of wits (see list below). I immediately thought the news was the result of some prank that had somehow made its way into the trending topics.

Alas, it was no joke. I remember thinking, “Really? For what?” So, I did a quick Google news search and stumbled across this piece by Michael Russnow on Huffington Post, “Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Laureate: Whatever Happened to Awarding for Deeds Actually Done?” and found myself in total agreement when he wrote:

Whatever one might feel about Obama, he has not earned this singular award. Few American presidents have received it and of those who have it was bestowed after they’d been engaged in something special. … The time has not yet arrived and circumstances have not yet evolved where Barack Obama is anywhere near the point where he has earned this prize.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called the decision “hasty” and “premature.” Al-Jazeera’s coverage framed Obama’s Nobel win as seemingly, “too far-fetched to believe.”

An Egyptian colleague summed up the vehement objections voiced by many to the Nobel committee’s choice by pointing out that Obama’s Cairo speech, cited as one the justifications for his selection, has not been followed with substantial change in US policy. … What, she asked, has Obama done to make the world a more peaceful or just place?

So, what now? What should President Obama do? Some have suggested that he set the prize aside and then go back to the Nobel Committee in three years. At that point, he can either accept or reject it based on what role the U.S. has played, under his leadership, in positively bringing peace to all the troubled corners of the world.

There was a healthy debate about achieving peace through strength on FOX News Sunday yesterday (edited video below via TPM). Liz Cheney suggested that since the U.S. military is the largest peacekeeping force in the world, President Obama should forgo the trip to Oslo in December and send the family of a fallen soldier to accept the award instead. Bill Kristol from The Weekly Standard suggested that president should refuse the award outright, but if he does accept it, he should do so on behalf of the U.S. military and deliver a pro-America speech. Juan Williams from National Public Radio offered, “They just honored the United States and our stature as the lone superpower in the world and our ability to bring peace and that acknowledgement is nothing that is intended to insult America or our military.”

Interesting logic. We didn’t become a superpower overnight or by accident. As the saying goes, “Freedom isn’t free.” Many have bravely sacrificed life and limb in the name of liberty to build our great nation.

If indeed the Nobel Committee, through this award, chose to recognize the men and women serving in the U.S. military for taking the fight to the terrorists, murderous thugs and tyrants, then President Obama should accept it in that spirit.

And he should do so on behalf of our country, his predecessors and all those who have ever proudly worn the uniform of the United States of America in the name of peace and freedom.

RELATED

Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize Because His Last Name Isn’t Bush (FamousDC)

Top Twenty Twitter Reactions To Obama’s Nobel Prize (Patrick Gavin)

What Twitterers Thought of Giving Obama the Prize (TIME)

The group includes Craig Newmark of Craigslist.org; Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum; Ellen Miller from the Sunlight Foundation; Jon Henke, a consultant and blogger for The Next Right; and David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Due to the overwhelming response to the first column, Jose decided to add a guest reviewer for “Grading WhiteHouse.gov, Round Two,” which was posted earlier this week — and I was honored that he thought of me. Of course, he did indicate that he wasn’t going to be able to print my entire thoughts, but agreed to allow me to post them here.

However, a few things to note before we start:

• The transition was absolutely flawless. President Bush’s site was archived and President Obama’s new site was officially launched on Inauguration Day right on time. I don’t think many truly recognize what a major accomplishment that was.
• It’s important to recognize that the Internet is still relaltively in its infancy and that social media is just a few years old. When I was at the White House, MySpace was all the rage, Facebook was still limited those in college with .edu email addresses and Twitter hadn’t officially launched yet. Today, many are still trying to figure out what it means for business, the media and yes, even for our democracy.
• The Obama White House new media team, led by Macon Phillips, has only been in place a short time so let’s give them some room to settle in. They join a small fraternity of White House Internet staffers who came before them that built the foundation for what they will ultimately achieve. They are breaking new ground, trying new things and will certainly make some mistakes along the way. As technology and tools continue to improve, I know that they’ll get there, but it will just take time so let’s be patient. However, there some basic things that seem to be missing, some of which are discussed in more detail below.
• I originally wrote this in late April just before the official 100 day mark — and about a week before the White House officially launched a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. The first Obama White House email (on Health Care) just came out yesterday.
• These comments and opinions are purely my own and I’m very interested in your feedback. Feel free to weigh in at the bottom of the post.

So, in the spirit of transparency, the full transcript is provided below for your review.

Q: How would you define transparency? Accessiblity? Engagement?
There’s a whole lot of buzz about transparency these days, but I believe that there’s a lack of common understanding as to what it really means and how it should apply to the process of governing online.

In my opinion, the word “transparency” as it relates to government represents the ability for citizens to gain easy access to information surrounding the decisions and public activities of our elected officials. Clearly the Internet has assisted with this. People have more information available to them than ever before and this is one of the primary reasons why I refer to President Bush as the first “digital president” despite the fact that President Clinton was the first to launch a White House site. In the same way, President Obama will certainly build upon this progress as the Internet continues to expand.

However, most would agree that complete transparency for every communication, no matter how large or small, between federal employees poses unique challenges of its own, especially in our fast-paced, technology driven world.

Despite the sheer volume of content, privacy concerns, national security protections and political sensitivities, there are some technological hurdles, as well. For example, content must be universal to ensure that everyone can consume information equally including those without regular access to the Internet, on slower connections or using outdated equipment, browsers and plug-ins.

In addition, Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that content on federal government Websites must be made available in different formats for those who may be hearing or sight impaired. There have been major strides in this area, including closed captioning options in YouTube, readable PDFs, audio/video tagging and other web-based software innovations which have leveled the playing field, most of which either didn’t exist, were restricted or too cost prohibitive to employ just a couple years ago.

Conversations that used to be one-way and constrained to “walled-gardens” on a handful of specific sites are a thing of the past thanks to social media. Now, when the White House publishes information, there is no shortage of online outlets where those issues can be discussed including social networks, news sites and blogs. The big question that still remains is whether the White House will use the Web to engage and better connect with citizens.

We saw the beginning stages of this under Jimmy Orr’s leadership (my predecessor) with the launch of “Ask the White House” in April 2003. By January 2009, the White House had hosted over 400 online chats via ATWH with officials from all areas and disciplines within the federal government, including one with President Bush aboard Air Force One in January 2008 on return from a Middle East trip.

President Obama broke similar ground with his “Open for Questions” event. Essentially, this was a standard live Webcast from the East Room where a handful of questions submitted via WhiteHouse.gov were answered in front of a pre-screened invited audience. It was reported that over 10,000 questions were sent in and I am hopeful that there will be many future opportunities to have those addressed in the coming months, as well, including live questions randomly selected from those who may wish to connect to the White House via real time video streaming technology such as Qik, Ustream or Skype.

Q: In your mind, what’s the mission of WhiteHouse.gov?
During White House events, President Bush often welcomed guests to the “people’s house” and I always viewed the Website in the same manner: WhiteHouse.gov is the people’s site — and it is one of a kind. Sure, other world leaders have similar sites but WhiteHouse.gov is the one place that users should be able to go to answer one simple Twitter-like question, “What is the president doing?”

I believe every American should have access to the activities of our president on any given day. For those looking beyond the sound bite to learn more about what is said and done on their behalf, the site serves an important role as a digital archive for unedited transcripts, photos, audio and long-form video of public events and press briefings.

In addition, WhiteHouse.gov should be a place where one can find more information about the president’s positions on current policy issues, as well as historical information about the American Presidency, the White House and the United States.

Q: What has surprised you most about Obama’s WhiteHouse.gov?
I was very impressed by the speed and efficiency of the transition when the White House team successfully managed the transfer and archival of President Bush’s site (including related multimedia) while simultaneously launching President Obama’s new version at 12:01 PM on Inauguration Day.

Load times are fast and the design is clean, crisp and modern. I am a fan of the rotating features which helps the user navigate the site based on relevant and timely issues. As an E-Gov evangelist, I was very pleased that President Obama chose to answer questions from WhiteHouse.gov for the East Room Webcast and the implementation of Google Moderator to manage the process was smooth and seamless. Also, the White House LiveStream has worked quite well since its launch. I specifically enjoyed watching the multi-stream coverage of the meetings on healthcare, as well as the continued tradition of the White House Easter Egg Roll Webcast.

Q: What has disappointed you the most?
As we know, this week marks 100 days since President Obama officially took office, (originally written in late April) so it is fitting to take a step back to examine some of the areas where the site still needs improvement now that his team has a few months under their belt.

My biggest disappointment with the new site is the difficulty I have in locating information due to poor organization architecture. It is confusing to locate specific content and the structure is not intuitive. So much emphasis is placed on the blog that, unfortunately, related materials such as transcripts, photos, audio, video and links get lost, are buried or seem to be posted as an afterthought in separate, unrelated locations.

For example, the March 24, 2009 press conference was posted on the blog as, “Addressing Our Problems Head-On” and only included President Obama’s answer to a tough question posed by CNN’s Ed Henry which many thought was a highlight. The next morning, I still couldn’t find a transcript or video and when a link finally did appear a few hours later, it sent users to the Los Angeles Times blog. I’m sure the LA Times executives (and the blog’s advertisers) appreciate the increased site traffic from a taxpayer funded site, but shouldn’t WhiteHouse.gov – and ultimately the National Archives – be the permanent source for that information? What happens if the LA Times moves the transcript or starts charging for archived content on their site? In all fairness, I did eventually find the transcript a day or so later after several attempts via the search engine, but it wasn’t easy.

This isn’t an isolated situation. Since I couldn’t find a daily listing of presidential activities, I went to the Speeches section of WhiteHouse.gov under “The Briefing Room” and found only three (one in Spanish) currently listed. At the time of this post, the most recent listed is from 2/27/2009, “Remarks of President Barack Obama – Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq.”

Similarly, it is unclear as to how the items listed in Official Statements differ from speeches which have remarks mixed in with written statements from President Obama, Mrs. Obama and Vice President Biden – which are all separate from Presidential Actions such as executive orders, proclamations, etc.

Q: As it stands, what grade would you give the site? And give your one paragraph explanation.
Although the new WhiteHouse.gov has an attractive, modern design and a number of new features, it is still in its infancy and it is important to remember that. However, in some ways, the site seems to actually have less content than its immediate predecessor.

Simple things that were standard on President Bush’s Website such as daily press briefing video (which is on YouTube now, but not embedded or otherwise available on WhiteHouse.gov), Cabinet member photos and bios and RSS feeds for all remarks, weekly addresses, briefings and other releases (not just selected items) all seem to be missing. Given this, combined with the site’s organizational challenges, delayed postings and hard to find information, I have to give it a current grade of: C

I am confident that the Obama team will eventually fix these issues and ultimately take WhiteHouse.gov to the next level as the Internet also continues to grow and evolve. More importantly, users will help shape the site’s future by expecting the White House to add new functionality by providing more data, finding ways to incorporate social media, offering mobile versions of the site, adding text messaging and soliciting feedback from citizens on important legislation, thus improving the transparency of, access to and engagement with their government.

Related

Grading WhiteHouse.gov, Round Two (Jose Antonio Vargas, The Washington Post)

Grading Whitehouse.gov, Part 2 (Jon Henke, The Next Right)

Your Government & New Media (Macon Phillips, The White House)

As the Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas reported yesterday in The YouTube Presidency:

President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video — a first. The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama’s transition site, Change.gov, once the radio address is made public on Saturday morning.

According to Mike Allen, who writes Politico.com’s Playbook, the Obama-Biden transition stated on Friday that “No President-elect or President has ever turned the radio address into a multi-media opportunity before.”

Actually, that’s not true. All of President George W. Bush’s radio addresses have been published weekly since January 27, 2001 and available via WhiteHouse.gov on the White House Radio page. In addition, President Bush has delivered several LIVE radio addresses, many of which included a webcast, audio, photos and on demand video post event.

• September 11, 2004 from the Oval Office
• September 3, 2005 from the Rose Garden
• December 17, 2005 from the Roosevelt Room
• November 4, 2006 from Mile High Coffee shop in Englewood, Colorado

On a related note, Mrs. Laura Bush became the first First Lady to deliver an entire Presidential Radio Address when she spoke to the nation from Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas on November 17, 2001. She gave another radio address from the headquarters of Radio Free Europe in Prague, Czech Republic May 21, 2002 to discuss Afghanistan and again, most recently, on February 1, 2008 from her office in the East Wing of the White House to highlight the importance of heart health during American Heart Month.

In July 2005, as White House Internet Director, I worked with our web team and Apple to create a “room” in iTunes to house all White House Podcasts, starting with President Bush’s Weekly Radio Address in both English and Spanish.

We built it out further in September 2005 to include audio from all of the President’s public remarks, events and White House press briefings. We also added video such as State of the Union speeches and Presidential Addresses to the Nation.

At the time, washingtonpost.com’s Robert MacMillan wrote about the new WhiteHouse.gov feature in The Paradox of Podcasting:

I don’t know any other word to use besides “mainstream” when I hear from the White House that President Bush’s radio addresses will be offered via podcast. … Not only that, the White House has created RSS feeds for the radio addresses in English and Spanish. That means that anyone who wants to can sign up to receive the information through their RSS readers along with news and other Web site updates that offer this service. … Regardless of the current brouhaha over what that vision is, it might be possible to classify the Bush White House as jumping ahead of the curve on technology.

Why Audio?
President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke directly to the American people about thirty times via radio from 1933 to 1944 in a series of broadcasts which later became known as “Fireside chats.”

During this Golden Age of Radio, FDR envisioned American families huddled around the radio in homes around the country listening to the voice of their President providing them assurance and comfort as the nation struggled to endure the trials of The Great Depression.

Today, the president typically records the radio address on Friday in the Cabinet Room with audio broadcast and web transcript publication embargoed until 10:06 AM EST Saturday morning. Originally, that time was chosen because the five minute national news reports aired at 10 AM, with the address immediately following. To honor that past tradition, we usually published the content on the White House staging servers before we went home on Friday night, and set the pages to auto-publish on Saturday at the appointed time.

Using video is an interesting — and definitely more modern approach, but I think it defeats the spirit and purpose of a “radio” address. There’s a big difference between audio and video presentations. Anyone who has ever set the tuner to AM to hear a local talkshow, subscribed to XM Radio, enjoyed the long form style of C-SPAN Radio coverage, National Public Radio reporting or the CBS Sunday Morning’s use of ambient sound during the nature segment can certainly appreciate the nuance of the medium.

How will President Obama’s radio address differ from any other Presidential webcast or televised speech he gives? Will it lessen the value of other White House addresses to the nation, like those typically delivered from the Oval Office? What about the fact that it might be in YouTube as opposed to just on WhiteHouse.gov (assuming E-Gov policies are changed to allow it)?

Well, here is President-Elect Obama’s first one from today. What do you think?

I also live blogged here on CapitalGig and via Twitter (@almacy). Here’s how it all unfolded…

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2008

6:34 PM CapitalGig: Freedom Isn’t Free, but Coffee and Donuts Are http://tinyurl.com/5czf3e

6:45 PM Heading down to FOX 5 studios here in Washington, DC to participate in their election coverage tonight from 8 PM to 12 Midnight.

6:52 PM Virginia polls officially close in 8 minutes. Maryland and DC close at 8 PM ET.

7:08 PM Former Virginia governor Mark Warner (D) has defeated Jim Gilmore (R) in the Virginia Senate race, AP reports.

7:12 PM Twitter via @almacy: http://twitpic.com/k1mj – The votes are in and the winner is… Duck!

7:22 PM Dark, rainy night in DC. GW Parkway is slick, traffic steady through Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

7:38 PM Duck wins Presidency in local Virginia school kindergarten landslide. http://twitpic.com/k1mj Check out Duck for President, a kids classic!

8:03 PM Sen. Susan Collins (R) has defeated Rep. Tom Allen (D) in the Maine Senate race, AP reports.

8:08 PM CNN projects Obama wins New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut; McCain takes South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee.

8:18 PM Just arrived at FOX 5 studios in DC. Pulling into parking lot now.

8:32 PM First LIVE interview on myfoxdc.com webcast. http://tinyurl.com/6mslxm

8:42 PM Barack Obama has won New Hampshire, AP reports.

8:44 PM CNN projects that Barack Obama wins Pennsylvania. Wow, not super surprising but that’s huge.

8:44 PM Kay Hagan (D) has unseated Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) in North Carolina, AP reports.

8:57 PM First LIVE TV hit on FOX 5. http://www.myfoxdc.com/

9:00 PM Former governor Jeanne Shaheen (D) has defeated Sen. John Sununu (R) in the New Hampshire Senate race, AP reports.

9:10 PM CNN projects McCain wins North Dakota and Wyoming, Obama wins New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

9:17 PM Rep. Tom Udall (D) has defeated Rep. Steve Pearce (R) in the New Mexico Senate race, AP reports.

9:22 PM Twitter via @almacy: Alternating between FOX5 TV and web. LIVE feed here: http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

9:34 PM Twitter via @almacy: FOX just called Pennsylvania and Ohio for Obama.

9:36 PM U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) has defeated Bruce Lunsford (D) in Kentucky, AP reports.

9:36 PM CNN projects Barack Obama the winner of battleground state of Ohio. Path is getting easier for Obama.

9:54 PM Twitter via @almacy: @kholmgren Thanks, Kurt. We are also live streaming: http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

9:57 PM Jim Himes (D) has defeated Rep. Chris Shays (R) in Connecticut’s Fourth District, AP reports.

9:58 PM Twitter via @almacy: @dcconcierge Yup, @epolitics and I are two cubes away. Fun times, hot lights! Colin will be up shortly.

10:03 PM Barack Obama has won Iowa, AP reports.

10:04 PM Twitter via @almacy: @willthomas interviewing Heather Smith, Exec Dir of Rock the Vote. #foxdc http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:09 PM John McCain has won West Virginia, AP reports.

10:13 PM Tom Rooney (R) has defeated Rep. Tim Mahoney (D) in Florida’s 16th District, AP reports.

10:14 PM Twitter via @almacy: @epolitics Hey, just saw you and some prairie dog on FOX 5 LIVE web stream http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:33 PM Rep. John Murtha (D) has defeated Bill Russell (R) in Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, AP reports.

10:34 PM Twitter via @almacy: Next FOX 5 TV hit with @willthomas is slated for 10:44 PM. @epolitics Colin Delany and I ready to go. #foxdc

10:39 PM Barack Obama has won New Mexico, AP reports.

10:42 PM Twitter via @almacy: Getting set to go LIVE on Fox5 TV. http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:47 PM Twitter via @almacy: a slew of states about to be called at 11AM. Race ready to be called for Obama as 44th President of the US.

10:49 PM Twitter via @almacy: Looks like Sen. Hillary Clinton will be boxed out from the White House for the next four to eight years.

10:51 PM Barack Obama has won Virginia, AP reports.

10:54 PM Twitter via @almacy: @acedtect RT: We can now project Will.I.Am as President of Holograms.

10:57 PM Rep. Mark Udall (D) has defeated former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) in the Colorado Senate race, AP reports.

11:00 PM Barack Obama has won Florida, AP reports.

11:00 PM Twitter via @almacy: @FoxNews is now officially projecting Sen. Obama as the next President of the U.S.

11:01 PM Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States of America, AP reports. CNN also projects that Sen. Barack Obama has won election as the next president of the United States.

11:04 PM Twitter via @almacy: Obama is leaving Hyatt around 11:35 PM and is expected to speak at 12 AM. McCain to speak shortly.

11:06 PM Twitter via @almacy: Campaign official says that McCain called Obama to concede.

11:09 PM Beverly Perdue (D) has defeated Pat McCrory (R) and will become North Carolina’s first female governor, AP reports.

11:13 PM Twitter via @almacy: How ironic that this my 1600th tweet on the night that we elect a new US President – as in Pennsylvania Ave. Congrats, Sen. Obama.

11:18 PM Twitter via @almacy: Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin taking the stage.

11:22 PM Twitter via @almacy: Sen. McCain officially concedes, congratulates Sen. Obama on winning an historic election.

11:24 PM Politico: John McCain concedes, says “this is an historic election… I pledge to [Obama] tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.” CNN: John McCain congratulates Barack Obama on his “historic” election as president of “the greatest nation on Earth.”

11:32 PM Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) has defeated John Kennedy (R) in the Louisiana Senate race, AP reports.

11:33 PM Sen. Roger Wicker (R) has defeated former governor Ronnie Musgrove (D) in the Mississippi Senate race, AP reports.

11:47 AM Twitter via @almacy: Top Twitter themes: President OBAMA, President-Elect, United States, Congratulations http://election.twitter.com/

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2008

12:00 AM President-elect Barack Obama expected to speak in Chicago.

12:01 AM Twitter via @almacy: Obama takes the stage in Chicago. Quite an impressive scene.

12:02 AM Barack Obama declares victory, says, “If there is anyone out there who still… questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

12:08 AM Twitter via @almacy: Just flipped through channels, Obama speech being aired on 21 of them. M*A*S*H, Frazier & Tyra fans rest assured, programming uninterrupted.

12:13 AM Barack Obama, in victory speech, tells supporters that his election as president shows that “change has come to America.”

12:16 AM Kathy Dahlkemper (D) has defeated Phil English (R) in Pennsylvania’s Third District, AP reports.

12:22 AM Twitter via @almacy: http://twitpic.com/k49i – @willthomas on the set at Fox5 in Wash, DC on Election Night 2008. #foxdc

12:26 AM Twitter via @almacy: @FoxNews Shepard Smith, “If you’re conservative and angry, get over yourself. We gotta move past this.” FOX 5 newsroom erupts w/ laughter.

12:32 AM “Good job, people!” overheard in FOX 5 Newsroom, received by thunderous applause. That’s a wrap!

12:34 AM Twitter via @almacy: All wrapped here at FOX 5. Thanks @willthomas and myfoxdc.com crew. #foxdc Headed home.

Related

Election 2008 Memento: Live at Fox 5 (Colin Delany, e.politics)

Election Night: E.Politics is Live on Fox5 (Colin Delany, e.politics)