Web 2.0 meets Campaign 2008

Podcasts and videos are among the features found on the interactive websites of US presidential candidates.

from the May 16, 2007 edition

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Features on candidates' websites

One, Sen. Joseph Biden (D) of Delaware, sponsors a separate site called Headtohead08.com, which posts videos of Democratic candidates' statements on issues and allows viewers to compare. The Clinton campaign runs a stand-alone site called ICanBePresident.com, aimed at parents who want to show their kids – girls in particular – that anyone can become president.

And at least one candidate has run a contest: During the NCAA basketball tournament, Republican Sen. John McCain's in-house networking site, McCainSpace, ran a pool and awarded a McCain 2008 fleece jacket, hat, and pin to the top scorers.

The most elaborate Web sites, not surprisingly, are run by the campaigns that took in the most money in the first quarter of 2007, says Christine Williams, a professor of political science at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. Web staff and consultants, after all, don't come cheap.

"What's a surprise is that all the candidates have Web sites that are reasonably developed, by Web standards, so early in the campaign," says Ms. Williams, who along with a colleague has analyzed all the presidential candidates' websites.

So far, Williams is seeing a lot of experimentation, and she expects other campaigns to duplicate the features that catch on. Aside from McCain's NCAA bracket contest, she cites other unique features on candidate sites: Mr. Giuliani offers state-by-state talk radio information; Sen. Christopher Dodd (D) of Connecticut allows visitors to create audio testimonials; Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) of California offers podcasts.

Web traffic: Democrats vs. GOP

In the early going, the Democrats are beating the Republicans hands down in attracting traffic to their sites, according to Nielsen ratings. In January, the top site overall was Clinton's, with 828,000 unique visitors, followed by that of Senator Obama, with 574,000, and former Sen. John Edwards (D) of North Carolina in third place, with 464,000. In February, the Democrats still held the top three slots, but the order changed – Senator Obama (773,000), Clinton (398,000), and Mr. Edwards (252,000).

Traffic to Clinton's site spiked when she entered the race in January, as it did to Obama's when he formally announced in February. The challenge for all the sites is to keep visitors coming back. But Republicans have been slow to get people to visit even once. McCain topped the GOP ratings with only 296,000 unique visitors in January and 226,000 in February. (Go to www.Alexa.com for data on traffic to all sites.)

By another measure, antiwar candidate Dennis Kucinich, a congressman from Ohio, is the top Democratic presidential contender. According to Alexa.com, Mr. Kucinich is the most "linked in," meaning he has the most websites (729) linking to his campaign site. The second most linked is Clinton, with 178.

Does the Democrats' early advantage in overall Web traffic mean they're in better shape than the GOP to win the presidency in 2008? Not necessarily, analysts say. But the numbers do provide a window into what polls already show – that Democratic voters are more engaged in the campaign early on than are Republicans.

"There's more enthusiasm on the Democratic side, and also the collection of groups known as the netroots has been far more active, fueled by antiwar sentiment," says Michael Cornfield, an expert on online politics at nonpartisan ElectionMall Technologies, Inc. "It's the subject of very candid and rueful discussion among online activists on the right."

Christian Ferry, online director for the McCain campaign, says that Republicans have a lot of outlets for talking about issues – including an extensive array of talk radio shows – and so partisan comparisons about Web use need to be considered in the larger media context.

Still, he says, "the conservative blogosphere is really picking up in activity, and Republicans are very active online."

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