democrat

Internet companies including Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are planning to use this year's political conventions to show off their technology and products--and, of course, host massive parties for employees, celebrities, and politicians.

Even though public interest in the Democratic and Republican conventions may be waning, there are more ways than ever to tune in to what's happening over the next several weeks. There are Webcasts, alerts sent via text messaging, and an announcement that Sirius XM Radio will carry "live, uninterrupted" audio from the conventions.

The common theme is finding out the best way to employ … Read more

With the Democratic and Republican national conventions coming up in Denver and St. Paul in the next few weeks, we are planning our coverage across CNET News and CBSNews.com. (Being part of CBS has some nice advantages.) CNET News reporters Declan McCullagh, Stephanie Condon, and Kara Tsuboi will be on the scene, covering the tech policies and positions of the presidential and vice presidential candidates. In addition, they will be roaming the convention floors, interviewing delegates, politicians, and pundits on tech-related issues such as Net neutrality, Internet taxation, and privacy.

CBS Evening News will have its usual wall-to-wall coverage … Read more

Rich Peters of Iowa City, Iowa, explained why he's a Democrat in a simple video with a few scene changes, a dog as a prop, and straightforward analysis-- and now YouTube will fly Peters to the Democratic Convention in Denver to present his video and travel with the press pool for a day.

Viewers chose Peters' video out of five finalists presented in YouTube's video contest posing the question, "Why are you a Democrat in 2008?" The Democratic National Convention Committee picked the five finalists from hundreds of submissions. The Republican National Committee is hosting a … Read more

Verizon Wireless is beefing up its infrastructure in Denver to prepare for the influx of as many as 50,000 people expected to enter the city later this month for the Democratic National Convention.

The company said on Wednesday that it has added three permanent cell sites to downtown Denver and also plans to install a mobile "cell-on-wheels." Upgrades at specific cell sites have doubled voice capacity in the city and increased data-handling capacity four-fold.

In-building coverage has also been enhanced with signal boosters and repeaters in a number of hotels, parking garages, and other convention sites. The … Read more

Thanks to tech and multimedia companies like Yahoo and the Politico, the traditional grandstanding of the Democratic and Republican conventions will no longer be limited to audiences of political insiders.

The two organizations announced Monday they will be partnering with traditional newspapers to host public forums at both the Democratic National Convention in Colorado and Republican National Convention in Minnesota. Both Yahoo News and Politico will make the forums available online.

There will be eight public breakfast panels, which according to a press release, "will set the tone for each day of the convention." The panels will be … Read more

When I was a kid, youth-voting organization Rock the Vote teamed up with MTV when it wanted to reach young audiences. But in the 21st century, it's MySpace: the News Corp.-owned social network has announced a contest called 'DemROCKracy,' in which bands that use the site as a promotional tool are invited to encourage their fans to register to vote.

Here's how it works: from now through August 14, bands with profiles on MySpace can install a tool on their pages that lets their fans register to vote. The first 25 bands to have 150 people register … Read more

MySpace's political initiatives didn't end with the primaries: the News Corp.-owned social network has unveiled a contest in conjunction with NBC News and MSNBC.com in anticipation of the major parties' campaign conventions.

Part of the Decision '08 initiative between MySpace and NBC News, it's a competition to choose MySpace's "citizen journalist" correspondents at the major parties' national conventions later this summer.

Entrants, who must be MySpace members who are 18 years or older, must answer one of the following questions via a video submission: "Why do you vote?" "Why … Read more

Even in an election year, Republicans and Democrats found one thing to agree on. Both have announced deals to use Microsoft as a key technology supplier for their upcoming national conventions.

The Republicans announced on Thursday that Microsoft will provide a range of technologies from setting up a volunteer management system to showing off its Surface computers, from which convention goers will be able to share photos.

"Microsoft stands as one of America's success stories, always at the leading edge of technology," convention President and CEO Maria Cino said in a statement. "Our goal has always … Read more

As she lurched towards an unfortunate demise in the Democratic Primary election, Hillary Clinton sought out Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and appeared to blame him for her failure to defeat Barack Obama.

Last week, a Clinton campaign operative placed a phone call to Zuckerberg, choosing a less than optimal time of the morning. When Zuckerberg picked up, the New York Senator came on the line to firmly state her views.

"Mr. Zuckerberg. You and your friendsters- I believe that's the trendy term- are costing me the Presidency," declared the Senator.

"Um, we're Facebook, not Friendster, … Read more