Politics and Law

DENVER--Delegates squeezing into the stadium hosting the Democratic convention on Thursday are being asked to do what must be a political party first: show their support for their party's nominee through text messages.

During a lull in the convention program before singer (and political activist) Sheryl Crow appeared onstage with a guitar, organizers asked delegates to show their support for Barack Obama by sending the text message "DNC" to 62262. Those digits, of course, happen to spell "Obama."

The more text messages originating from each state--presumably based on the sender's area code--the larger a … Read more

It sounded like a great idea at the time: Barack Obama announced that he'd announce his veep selection through text messaging.

A campaign e-mail message on August 12 promised: "Let me be very clear. You are the ones who built this campaign, and Barack wants you to be the first to know who will join him in leading our movement for change." There were just two problems with that plan. First, the Obama campaign chose the traditional route of handing the news first to a favored reporter: Joe Biden's selection was first reported by CNN. Second, … Read more

DENVER--If you're a candidate for president during the 2012 primaries, you may want to watch how sharply you criticize your rivals. Your critiques may come back to haunt you on the Web.

That's what the Republicans, at least, are hoping to demonstrate with their notready08.com site, which features clips of Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and John Edwards slamming Barack Obama last year and earlier this year for being inexperienced or over his voting record in Illinois.

Other sections include a YouTube video listed as the "Temple of Obama" that shows the makings of Obama's … Read more

DENVER--The Democratic Party has boasted that its convention here will be "the most environmentally-sustainable" gathering in the party's history, complete with a director of sustainability, low-power lighting in some areas, and calculations of carbon footprints.

Some of the goals include diverting 85 percent of waste that would normally go to a landfill, finding hundreds of people to sort waste into recycling-compost-landfill containers, and devising what The Wall Street Journal described as "lean 'n' green" catering guidelines that say food described thusly must not be fried and shall contain three of the following colors: red, green, … Read more

DENVER--I have just arrived at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos, for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Thousands of the 75,000 expected audience members have already filled the stands; keep in mind, Obama is not expected to appear until sometime in the 8 o'clock hour, at least five hours from now.

A lot of people in the stands are simply chilling, taking in the high-altitude sun, and snapping photos of the occasional media celebrity passing by. A good handful of people are also sitting with their laptops open, fighting … Read more

DENVER--Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said on Thursday that the Internet gave presidential candidate Barack Obama the ability to bypass traditional media and claim the Democratic nomination.

Schmidt showed up at the Democratic convention here on Thursday to field questions about politics, how Google is influencing online journalism, and the company's policies on privacy.

During an appearance at the literal and figurative Big Tent, a blogger workspace sponsored by Google and Digg.com, Schmidt said that Web sites like YouTube allow politicians to connect more directly with voters.

Here are some highlights of Schmidt's nearly hour-long conversation … Read more

DENVER--An unusual phenomenon has recently appeared on Craigslist's Denver Web site. Sex-wanted ads spiked this week, which happens to coincide with the Democratic National Convention.

Ads seeking casual sexual encounters through the Denver Craigslist site increased an average of roughly 70 percent to 80 percent over the same days of the week earlier in August.

On average, 425 posts on Craiglist's "Casual Encounters" area appeared on the first three Sundays in August. But this Sunday, when tens of thousands of people had arrived for the convention, 763 posts appeared--an 80 percent increase.

The general content is … Read more

DENVER--If you thought that the Republican Party would try to overshadow the Democratic convention this week and the attention paid to Barack Obama's choice of a running mate, you'd be right. Just do a search on Google.

As The Wall Street Journal has pointed out, the McCain campaign has nabbed the top ad spot on Google for the search terms "Joe Biden" and "Biden." Presumably it outbid the Democrats for the top spot.

The ad that appeared reads, "What Does Joe Biden Say About Barack Obama? Find Out Today!" and takes searchers … Read more

Day three of the Democratic National Convention wasn't just about speeches. It also marked the official anointing of Barack Obama and Joe Biden as the Democratic ticket for the 2008 presidential election.

But there were speeches aplenty, of course. Biden gave the climactic address of Wednesday evening in Denver, laying into the Republicans and their presumptive nominee, John McCain, after which Obama made an unscheduled appearance on stage, offering a few words in advance of his speech Thursday night.

Earlier in the evening, former President Bill Clinton addressed the party faithful as well.

Meanwhile, word began to circulate that … Read more