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MySpace Flap Costs Obama

Campaign big-foots virtual volunteer; candidate speaks up

By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff

Posted May 3, 2007 8:42 AM CDT

(Newser) – The glow of a computer screen morphed into a harsh spotlight on the Barack Obama campaign this week during a bitter dispute over control of a MySpace page bearing the senator's name. Obama reached out last night—over the phone, not in an email—to the disgruntled supporter who created the page, but the damage is done.

Joe Anthony started the page in 2004 and later gave access to the campaign. Things fell apart when Obama's people demanded control. They got their wish, but the social-networking calculus scores it as a loss: Obama's "friend" count plunged from 160,000 to 20,000. And Anthony hasn't decided who will get his vote.

U.S. Sen. and presidential hopeful Barack Obama, D-Ill., shakes hands with supporters as he leaves a campaign rally at Yellow Jacket Park, Saturday, April 14, 2007 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Before a cheering crowd of 20,000 people Obama said that if elected president he would bring U....
U.S. Sen. and presidential hopeful Barack Obama, D-Ill., shakes hands with supporters as he leaves a campaign rally at Yellow Jacket Park, Saturday, April 14, 2007 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Before a...   (Associated Press)
Campaign buttons are offered for sale before the start of a campaign appearance by Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Council Bluffs, Neb., Saturday, March 31, 2007. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Campaign buttons are offered for sale before the start of a campaign appearance by Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Council Bluffs, Neb., Saturday, March 31, 2007. (AP Photo/Nati...   (Associated Press)
MRT's X1 Recording Control Flatlining Stream Ripping on MySpace and Apple's iTunes.  (PRNewsFoto/Media Rights Technologies)
MRT's X1 Recording Control Flatlining Stream Ripping on MySpace and Apple's iTunes. (PRNewsFoto/Media Rights Technologies)   (Associated Press)
Sen. Barack Obama
Sen. Barack Obama   (Associated Press)
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