InTheCapital

Wow. Just Wow. InTheCapital breaks it down.

More unfortunate Gingrich poses… via BuzzFeed

That’s…unfortunate.

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

As we mentioned last week, on behalf of Michelle Obama, The White House invited some innovators to the State of the Union on Tuesday night. One of those lucky bunch was Instagram founder, Mike Krieger. It makes, of course, that the creator of the snazzy photo sharing app would use the occasion to snap a quick shot with the First Lady herself. 

The invitation was most certainly an attempt of the administration to highlight entrepreneurship—with an emphasis on foreign innovators who come to the United States. Krieger, of course, is Brazilian and in the process of getting his green card.

The White House also posted a nice little video of his trip, which we have below. 

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

I came across this extremely ridiculous Newsweek cover and brushed it off as part of the photoshopped meme-ery that makes Tumblr so great. But after checking it out, it would appear this is actually Newsweek’s chosen cover image. For real. I weep for journalism.

…Also, I’m well-aware my choosing to write about this and feature the image only validates their decision to run this cover..it’s just…well…ughh…You win, Newsweek. You win. It is…kinda…cool.

..Also of note: It’s our 200th pre-launch post! Come celebrate with us as we move into our fancy new cyber digs on Wednesday! 

Obama Tests Out Chairs in the Oval Office

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

Sure, Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich could make a serious run at Barack Obama and win this coming October…but they sure as hell won’t be dishing out orders and posing for photos in the Oval Office. According to reports from The Washingtonian, the storied Executive office in the West Wing may be out of commission for a bit.

From the Washingtonian:

While the exterior of the White House has had a lot of repair work done and the press room underwent a thorough renovation, other parts of the West Wing are old, weary, and need to be upgraded.

And it could take some time, too. A source told the Washingtonian that renovations could take up to a year to get done. Further proof that when you do construction at the White House, you don’t mess around. The source also added that most of the West Wing aside of the Situation Room (how else will we hunt the terrorists?) will be out of play as well. Of course, White House liaison, Gregory Mecher made sure to be as vague as possible in a classic, robot-like email on the subject. ““As we have done since the project began, GSA will continue to keep the public abreast of this project as it moves forward.”

But hey…we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We still have a Republican Primary and a General Election to deal with. Mitt is excited about it. Are you?

Images: www.doobybrain.com

www.mittromneyisatool.com

DEBATE HATE (via Huffington Post)

What a country, folks. Really, take a bow…

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

Wanna buy a 2005 Chrysler? What if I were to tell you it’s none other than the one driven by our Commander and Chief, Barack Obama? And then, what if I told you it cost $1 million? Yeah…it’s not exactly a steal.

If you happen to be a serious fan of Barack Obama (and rolling in cash) this might be of some interest to you…although I’m having a hard time seeing why. Apparently, the car, which is a supercharged Hemi V8, was drawing some negative press for the then-candidate. Feeling the heat, Obama traded it in for a hybrid Ford Escape. Still masculine, but a little less of a guzzler. 

The owner says he/she can prove Obama owned the car, as the Illinois title has Barack’s name on it, but there was no picture of the title or anything to indicate Obama’s ownership on the site. So, uh…buyer beware, I suppose. There are a load of pics of the vehicle on the ebay posting, which you can see here.

Here is part of the description from the owner.

2005 Chrysler 300C - owned by President Barack OBAMA. We have the original paperwork and the title showing this vehicle was actually used by Barack. 19,000 miles driven by the Obama - many highway miles back & forth to Springfield while he was an Illinois State Senator.  

It is safe to say that President Obama has the full support of Silicon Valley and the giants of tech. The proof is in the monster announcement today for Technology for Obama, which is affectionately abbreviated as ‘T4O’. This group is a powerhouse of tech giants and founders who are banding together to raise campaign cash and, most likely, assist with creating a formidable digital campaign structure and proprietary code. The group of co-chairs includes Sean Parker, of Napster and Facebook fame, Reid Hoffman co-founder of LinkedIn, Jeremy Stoppelman from Yelp, Craigslist namesake and founder, Craig Newmark, and Marc Benioff  of Salesforce.com.

Did your eyes just roll back into your head a little bit? Perhaps your jaw hit the floor? This is a mammoth development from the campaign as this group of committee co-chairs has loads of money, even more influence, and a LOT of access to top development talent. 

Here’s a little on the net worth of some of the co-chairs:

Reid Hoffman - $1.5 billion

Sean Parker - $2.1 billion

Marc Benioff - $1.9 billion

Craig Newmark - $400 million

Jeremy Stoppelman - $222 million

That’s a lot of cash.

Here’s a bit from the Obama Campaign’s website:

Technology for Obama (T4O) seeks to activate an influential fundraising and operational group from the broad technology community. Through national, regional, and online activities,T4O will work to rally the tech community to endorse, and to commit time and talent to the campaign. T4Owill supply participants with information, contacts and inspiration for further involvement and to provide significant financial support for the re-election of President Barack Obama. If you work, support, or identify with technology then you should join T4O!

If you also have a ton of cash and an interest in helping the Obama campaign’s tech strategy, you can donate as well. There will also be ameeting in San Francisco tonight, where the big dogs will talk on a panel and explain how they are banding together to create a tech infrastructure and cash pool the likes of which have never been seen before.

[Lead Image via USA Today]

soupsoup:

Look who bought the top promoted tweet for “Romney Tax Returns”

This is how you use the promoted tweet in a campaign. Who knows if it’s actually effective…