Jonathan Fickies/Bloomberg News

Salesforce.com, best know for its sales, customer service and collaboration software for business, is raising its ambitions by aiming at the international businesses and sales to foreign governments that have been the mainstays of companies like I.B.M.

On Monday, the company named Vivek Kundra its executive vice president of emerging markets. Mr. Kundra was the country’s first chief information officer from March 2009 until August 2011. His job was to move the government’s computer infrastructure spending — $80 billion a year — toward cloud computing. Mr. Kundra has extensive experience in technology at several levels of government, and has been a frequent visitor to the technology industry’s conferences.

Mr. Kundra said in an interview that his work would consist of showing “how Salesforce can close the technology gap” between traditional business and the faster-moving industry typified by consumer applications like Facebook andTwitter. Governments, and many overseas businesses, he said, “are still focused on the old model.”

At present, nearly 68 percent of Salesforce’s revenue is from the United States and Canada. Another 18 percent is from Europe and the remaining 14 percent is from the Asia-Pacific region. Africa and the Middle East are not broken out as separate regions. I.B.M., by comparison, has selected Africa as one of its top growth markets.

Though his title indicates he will oversee development and sales in places Salesforce barely reaches, Mr. Kundra indicated he would use his experience and connections to reach out to governments everywhere.

“The developed nations are all facing challenges in terms of their financial health,” Mr. Kundra said. “They can look at their operating expenses and see Salesforce as a disruptor.” He said that Salesforce would present itself to developing nations as a provider of “new services,” like health care delivered over mobile networks. The overall strategy will be developed over the next few months, he said.

The main benefit of Mr. Kundra’s experience may be in cost savings, as well as project implementation. “When I was in the public sector, $26 billion of that $80 billion was in projects years behind schedule or not working,” Mr. Kundra said. “The cloud can save money. I’ve seen it first hand, whether in D.C. or in the federal government.”

Given his relatively short tenure in the federal government, the cost savings produced during his time there was not clear. Mr. Kundra has also worked in similar jobs for the State of Virginia and the District of Columbia, where the installation ofGoogle Apps, instead of traditional office productivity software, was said to have saved about 87 percent.

Mr. Kundra has also been an outspoken advocate of sharing government data with the public as a means of creating low-cost information and business software applications.

Here is the letter that went out to the democrats list today.

Friend – You may have heard that Mitt Romney’s offering a supporter a chance to donate and win to spend election night with him in New Hampshire. Kind of like Dinner with Barack. But there’s a catch: Deep pockets could go a long way to you joining him. You see, for every dollar you donate to Mitt, you automatically get another entry to win. So someone who makes a $1,000 donation would be exactly 200 times more likely to win Mitt’s contest than someone who only chipped in $5. We do things differently. Every few months, the President has asked to get together with just a few grassroots supporters to talk about what’s on their mind. And we don’t think your chances of winning should be determined by a big contribution. So donate $3 or whatever you can to be automatically entered to win dinner with the President and First Lady. You’ll have the same chances as everyone else, no matter how you enter. This is precisely the difference between us and the other side. Instead of auctioning the President’s time off to the highest bidder, we believe anyone should have a shot at a seat at his table. And instead of relying on big spenders, corporate lobbyists, and Super PACs to do our work, we rely on grassroots supporters like you. The President wouldn’t have it any other way. Chip in $3 or what you can to be automatically entered for dinner today: http://my.democrats.org/Dinner-Our-Way And remember, when Mitt’s spending election night with other folks who can afford $10,000 bets, we’ll be doing things our way. Thanks, Hildy Hildy Kuryk Finance Director Democratic National Committee

Matthew Morrison with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (Left) and Rachel Goslins (Right), Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities at the Bloomberg/Vanity Fair WHCD After-party

White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch friends, Glee star and White House Correspondents’ Dinner guest, Matthew Morrison, has finally released his first album.

Morrison was profiled in USA Today where his broadway and TV show colleagues boast about his musical talent, calling him a “quadruple threat.”

The album is now available for purchase on iTunes.

One of Morrison’s Glee co-stars, Darren Criss, stopped by the studio for some impromptu jamming – check out the video below (PerezHilton.com).

Tickets are still available for his July 6 appearance at DC’s DAR Constitution Hall.

Susan Sher at a luncheon in her honor at The Jefferson Hotel in Washington,DC

New Washington friends and old Chicago pals gathered at The Jefferson Hotel to honor Susan Sher. Sher came to Washington with the Obamas serving first in the White House Counsel’s office and for the last 18 months as the First Lady’s Chief of Staff. Connie Milstein, Hilary Rosen and Tammy Haddad hosted the luncheon, which included David Axelrod, Kevin Sheekey, Julianna Smoot and Patrick Gaspard.

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren (with his wife, Sally) saluted Sher’s West Orange, New Jersey roots as the other jersey girls, Anita Dunn and Hilary Rosen, proudly cheered him on.

While not a jersey girl, Manhattan-born Connie Milstein, is the proprietor of The Jefferson and invited the guests to raise their glasses to “thank Susan for her service to the nation.”

David Axelrod, who leaves Washington at the end of the month, praised Sher for her always-cool leadership and integrity. Axelrod said he was already making Chicago plans with Sher and Julianna Smoot, the White House Social Secretary, who announced this week she would go back to Chicago as Deputy Campaign Manager.

Other guests included Milstein’s husband, JC de La Haye Saint Hilarie, Linda Douglass, Rabbi David Saperstein, Anne Fleming, Alan Solow, Susan Davies, Danielle Grey, Maude Baggetto, Ted Greenberg, Danielle Borrin, and Holly Page.

The luncheon crowd dined on Tomato soup, Cod, Coq au Vin and Chocolate Brulee and everyone walked out with an anatomically correct White House chocolate bar. Click for photo gallery

Kristina Schake

Even after Susan Sher left the White House last week to return to Chicago, we can welcome a new transplant to the Beltway: Kristina Schake, co-founder of communications firm Griffin|Schake, joins the administration as First Lady Michelle Obama’s communications director.

From a press release sent out this morning:

“I’m thrilled to welcome Kristina to the team.  Kristina brings a wealth of expertise that I know will make her a tremendous asset in the East Wing,” said First Lady Michelle Obama.  “Kristina has done extensive work throughout her career on child nutrition and community health issues, and that paired with her experience as part of a military family will bring invaluable insight to our work on childhood obesity and our efforts to support military families.  I look forward to working with Kristina on these efforts and more in the months and years ahead.”

Schake isn’t a stranger to working for powerful heads of state as she worked with former First Lady of California Maria Shriver among tackling obesity issues, “stem cell research and early childhood education a national priority and helped change California’s political landscape on renewable energy and civil rights.”

We can expect to see Schake around Capitol Hill starting in December.

photo via Griffin|Schake

ABC News’ The Note sees this as coming full circle since 2008:

In the course of one night, critical gains Democrats had made in Congress over the course of two years were erased as the party in control of the White House suffered a painful loss of nearly 60 seats. As of this morning there were still 15 seats that have not been called — all of them currently held by Democrats. The GOP is likely to pick up some of those, bringing the total number of seats gained by Republicans even higher.

Not to mention this election cycle proved the strength of the “angry vote” over the fabled “youth vote,” which was shockingly absent compared to 2008. CBS News reports that the kids weren’t all right at the polling place and voting was down 18 percent  among 18-to-29-year olds. This year? The “youth vote” comprised nine percent of total voting percentage.

The New York Times rings in with the basic question: was hoping for change too ambitious from a country that can’t wait?

The most pressing question as Mr. Obama picks through the results on Wednesday morning will be what lessons he takes from the electoral reversals. Was this the natural and unavoidable backlash in a time of historic economic distress, or was it a repudiation of a big-spending activist government? Was it primarily a failure of communications as the White House has suggested lately, or was it a fundamental disconnect with the values and priorities of the American public?

For a full list of the Senatorial, Gubernatorial and House races, ABC News has the voting results as they come in.

If you’re planning on watching the day’s coverage, TheWrap highlights every major network’s planned schedules–including the overtly confusing ABC/Breitbart kerfuffle.  Don’t want to wait? Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight claims a 54-55 seat gain in the House by GOP from yesterday–the GOP only need 39 to take control. But as Andrea Mitchell said today during an interview with Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss), it’s still a 34 percent pro-GOP vote and appears to be a “firing” election rather than “hiring.”

Likewise from the New York Times, a prediction this could be a rough election day:

More than 500 House, Senate and governor’s races will be decided, if not by the end of the night, then over the course of the nail-biting days ahead as write-in ballots are counted and recounts are requested.

The looming questions of whether or not election results will answer growing concerns about the economy, a healthcare system repaired that may be smashed by a new Republican congress or whether or not the Tea Party are remotely viable are the big trinity of questions this year before 2012 crystal balls can be unveiled. Regardless, President Obama announced that he will have a live post-mortem announcement tomorrow afternoon (an interview President Obama taped with Ryan Seacrest will air today.)

In New York, Gothamist has a list of how to prepare to vote and a reminder to “TURN YOUR BALLOT OVER”  to vote on politician’s terms of service.

Did you know Toy Story 3 is actually working hand-in-hand with election day and Obama caused a rise in sissydom? Mystery author Andrew Klavan explains how in a LA Times editorial:

Last summer’s Pixar blockbuster — one of the best American films in a decade — was a similar rebuke, not perhaps to the Obama White House specifically but to its underlying ideas. The fact that the film was such an immense hit, earning back over half its estimated $200-million budget in a single weekend, should have served as a warning that Americans, though they might like the president personally, do not share his agenda.

And if you were wondering, yes, Obama represents Lots-O-Huggin’ Bear. What does Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich have to say about this groundbreakingly insane reading on a film about childhood dreams and friendship? On Twitter:

Really? REALLY? Please keep Toy Story 3 out of your politics.

I think Unkrich is right. In other Internet news, people are snapping pictures of their I Voted stickers on Twitter and earning badges on social networking check-in sites like Gowalla and Foursquare. Are you surprising #election is a trending topic on Twitter? Did you know it’s actually a sponsored trending topic?

So Poynter discovered yesterday when the Washington Post ponied up the cash to make it so. What does it do?

“When users click on that topic, one of the Post’s tweets will appear above other tweets with the #Election hashtag — giving the Post prime real estate to promote its coverage and updates.” It’s in effect a genius sponsorship idea. Elsewhere online, Politico’s near-constant coverage for the House Races, Senate Races and Gubernatorial Races.

In case you missed it this weekend, a tiny rally was held on a tiny piece of land in downtown Washington, DC. And then The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear blew up in the faces of the very folks covering it, while those attending the event laughed and swayed as if at a revival.

The general air around the event, spanning the multitude of signs via DCist, was a mystery. People were unsure what they were exactly attending–until the Roots and John Legend took the stage to calm all 200,000 (or 210,000 or 215,000) attendees’ fears. While the event, co-hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, played out as a “rally by the numbers” from a benediction to awards ceremony. But Stewart’s actual keynote (not the one involving John Oliver as Peter Pan) hit a rather sore spot for the media:

This wasn’t the message that most outlets were hoping for it seems as David Carr for the Times wrote:

It was a beautiful day on the Mall, and who doesn’t like kicking the press around, but speaking of ants, media bias and hyperbole seem like pretty small targets when unemployment is near 10 percent, vast amounts of unregulated cash are being spent in the election’s closing days, and no American governing institution — not the Senate, not the House of Representatives, not even the Supreme Court— seems to be above petty partisan bickering. Mr. Stewart couldn’t really go there and instead suggested it was those guys over there in the press tent who had the blood of democracy on their hands.

Yet in a mid-term election year that even Politico teases to be filled with jokers and clowns, how can the media not be held responsible? Judging by the turn-out that TBD cobbled together, it seems like the main reason that people are huffy about Stewart’s speech is his audience. Mainly because he had the entire audience in front of him plus through Comedy Central, Twitter and every other form of media consumption we have these days.

If not proved by the insane turnout at the Daily Show’s taping on Wednesday at the Harman Center in DC, maybe the Beltway Gang’s other favorite staple can prove it: polls! Over at DCI, Dan Meyers contemplates a recent Rock The Vote poll:

Let’s look at previous midterm elections and voters that were 18-24 years old.  In 1998 turnout among them was 18.5%.  In 2002 it dropped to about 17.2%.  And in 2006 it rose to 19.9% — up almost 3% points.  Participation is higher, as it is in most segments, in presidential election years.  In 2000, 36.1% turned out.  2004 came in at 41.9% and most recently, in 2008, a spike to 44.3%.  2008 was the highest turnout among 18-24 year old voters since 1972 – the Nixon landslide – with turnout at 48.3%.

This year’s estimate: 77 percent. Meyers goes on to couple this with emerging media trends in social networking and communities developed through meet-up culture, which encourages people to not simply say they’ll vote but make sure they will. The social check-in app Foursquare has created a new badge–”I Voted”–for election day so users can show off via Twitter or Facebook that they’ve checked into an election location and voted.

If the “youth vote” remains on a steady rise, then it almost becomes proof positive that voters will keep it up as they enter their next polling place demographics of “home owner,” “married” and “employed.”

Despite explaining health care reform, the economy and even a ceremonial mug presentation, the takeaway from President Obama on The Daily Show? Dude.

Jon Stewart’s moment of off-the-cuff reference to the commander-in-chief was just one of the great moments during the 31-minute interview that aired last night on Comedy Central as part of the Midterm Teapartyganza coverage that The Daily Show is providing live from DC this week.

After coming out to insane applause and presented “Mug Force One” by Stewart, the questions for the economy and midterms came out flying at Obama. Throughout the interview, the tone wildly shifts from Stewart’s own skepticism hidden as jokes to the types of blunt responses that the President has issued at previous Town Hall style debates since September.

And yet, this wasn’t the softball interview that a number of on air anchors claim it was.

Politico runs with Jon Stewart Getting Serious: “Stewart appeared set on proving his independence from Obama and the White House, choosing to advance the critique from the left that Obama — who appeared, at times, chastened — had been too cautious and moderate in advancing and selling his presidency.”

Of course, as avid watchers of The Daily Show know, Stewart isn’t a softball interview when he wants to be. He famously demolished MSNBC’s Chris Matthews during an otherwise mundane book tour and was responsible for ending CNN’s 23-year old debate show Crossfire in 2005.

The infamous “Dude” remark came after President Obama remarked “Larry Summers did a heck of a job,” citing an unintentional cultural reference to George W. Bush’s infamous praise for former FEMA Deputy Director Michael “Brownie” Brown’s handling of Hurricane Katrina.

But much like anything that comes to DC, it’s all about how the political wonks and needy are treated. Case in point: the weather was awful yesterday and (as is customary, even at their New York studio) people were kept in line outside of American University’s Harman Center. This lead to groundbreaking and enterprising reporting from the crew at Fishbowl DC, including the birth of a new hashtag: #dailyshownightmare.

If you ever wondered why people in the Beltway can’t have nice things, it’s primarily due to having to wait. No one in DC can ever wait or turn off their Blackberries without casually mentioning who they work for, who they are or complain about not being given access they so deserve. Cases in point.