A 200-page file on Mitt Romney has been released online. The file is comprehensive in its coverage of Romney’s political positions – as of 2008 anyway – on a wide variety of topics. It is rumored to be materials compiled …

The Internet forever has changed national politics, and this election year has made the point crystal clear. Below are eight game changers that have made the Internet more important since the last election.

Game Changer #1:

Well, here we are. Today is the day. Voters all over the country are making their way to the booths, each to put their own little nail in the coffin of this presidential race that has seemingly been going on for an eternity. This has been the most captivating race I have seen in my lifetime, and many say that this is one of the most important elections the U.S. has ever seen.

If you had to rely on the Internet to tell you how smart 2008’s presidential and vice presidential candidates are, your journey would end either without an answer (if you have a sufficient IQ of your own) or some wildly skewed perceptions (if you are, kindly, a trusting soul).

Though initially critical of the McCain campaign’s request for special treatment, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has echoed parts of a letter to YouTube by calling for immediate fair use review of videos uploaded to the site upon the receipt of a counter-notice to a DMCA takedown notice.

Though initially critical of the McCain campaign’s request for special treatment, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has echoed parts of a letter to YouTube by calling for immediate fair use review of videos uploaded to the site upon the receipt of a counter-notice to a DMCA takedown notice.

Though initially critical of the McCain campaign’s request for special treatment, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has echoed parts of a letter to YouTube by calling for immediate fair use review of videos uploaded to the site upon the receipt of a counter-notice to a DMCA takedown notice.

Though initially critical of the McCain campaign’s request for special treatment, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has echoed parts of a letter to YouTube by calling for immediate fair use review of videos uploaded to the site upon the receipt of a counter-notice to a DMCA takedown notice.

Often called the Father of the Internet (though he calls himself a “cofounder”), Vint Cerf these days works for Google being, as Valleywag’s Own Thomas puts it, “vice president in charge of being the guy who created the Internet.”

So that’s what “Internet Evangelist” means!

Whatever his title, he’s using throwing some of the clout onto YouTube to endorse Senator Barack Obama as President. The wedge issue for Cerf? The one that protects his baby of course: Net Neutrality.

Earlier this week, general counsel for the McCain campaign petitioned YouTube to give special treatment to political ads scrubbed from the site because of DMCA take down notices. General counsel for YouTube roundly rejected that request.

Senator Barack Obama’s campaign ran a more sophisticated online operation during the first six months of 2008 and Obama leads Senator McCain in site visitors, candidate searches, and display ads, while the McCain campaign leads in video views, according to a study from comScore Ad Metrix.

This weekend, as we fire up the grills and the sparklers (and some pyrotechnic contraband, depending on where you live), we also fan the flames of patriotism and of brotherhood, knowing that despite our differences of opinion in politics, the flames in our bellies are unending and conceived in the spirit of the unity of all voices.

Now that the US Presidential candidates have been campaigning for a solid year, we’re running out of angles from which to look at them. Since the Googleplex has hosted each of the remaining candidates, we thought we’d use the Google search engine to find those new angles.

This can show us a few things: what the Internet "climate," so to speak, is for the candidates; how they stand on issues affecting the Internet; and which ones are making the best use of the Internet for their campaigns.

And I’ll try to keep my opinions out of it. (Cub)Scout’s honor.