Someone Really Famous Wants YOU to Vote

Thanks, Jacob.

Oh. And don’t even bother hanging on the line if you hear this voice on the other end of the line — it’s a McCain campaign robocall and it’s just wrong.

Vote ’08: Vote by Mail and Registration Deadlines

california voter's guide with andre the giant obey stickerIsn’t it too late to register already? How do you vote by mail? I keep hearing this questions both directly and in passing and so I’m writing this brief post to address the answers, at least in specificity to the State of California (voting guide). You can also call for CA voting info: 1-800-345-VOTE. Find specific state-by-state info here

Is it too late to register to vote?
Not even close. October 20 is the last day to vote in California and most other states. Vote via the widget here.

How can I vote by mail?
In California, you can apply after October 6 via this form (PDF) or any of the other forms (in multiple languages) listed here. Currently, only 28 states allow no-excuse absentee voting. For information on your site, check The Vote by Mail Project.

Why the hell do we have to vote on Tuesday?
To answer this question, I urge everyone to explore the Why Tuesday? website. Fortunately, more and more states are allowing vote-by-mail, but it would be easiest to drop by a ballot box on a saturday or sunday, considering we’re not all farmers anymore.

There you go. Please leave any questions, thoughts, and comments below. You can also follow me on Twitter. No go and vote!

How Much is McCain Paying to Advertise on This Blog? Will it Be Easy to Block Such Ads?

I had to chuckle this morning when I revisited a year-old post about Lara Logan (it’s been receiving traffic lately in the aftermath of her appearance last week on The Daily Show) and found this John McCain for President Google image ad at the bottom of the page:

why is john mccain advertising on my blog

SearchEngineWatch points to a couple interviews in which Google Ad execs predict that both candidates Obama and McCain will depend heavily on Adwords bidding wars and that the Clinton campaign was inconsistent with it’s usage of Google’s Adsense and Adwords platforms.

According to Adsense’s cost-estimate tool, the keyword Obama costs an estimated $0.88 – $1.23 per click (CPC). So, essentially the party who wishes to advertise on a website contextually relevant to the keyword “Obama” would have to outbid other potential advertisers. “Barack Obama” scored similarly on estimated CPC, but the estimated CPC for “McCain” is $1.23 – $1.85 — signficantly higher, implying that someone is driving up the bidding to advertise on websites/blogs featuring the word “mccain.” It comes as little surprise to find Barack Obama ads at the bottom of my posts that feature McCain. Yet, in the instance of the Lara Logan post, I’m betting that the McCain ad was picking up the “Iraq” keyword and advertising on that (Obama-related posts appear to be plastered with pro-Obama Google ads).

Continue reading “How Much is McCain Paying to Advertise on This Blog? Will it Be Easy to Block Such Ads?”

Barack Obama FTW: ‘Tonight… I Can Tell You That I WILL Be the … Nominee!’

THE VICTORY SPEECH:

CNN and MSNBC Call it for Obama:

Earlier — Is it V-Obama Day or What?, and prior Obama posts here.

Listen to Obama’s speech below (thx to NewsJunk/Dave Winer for the instant archive).

Continue reading “Barack Obama FTW: ‘Tonight… I Can Tell You That I WILL Be the … Nominee!’”