March 23, 2007
On The Download: Democratic Internet Insiders Poll
Welcome back to On The Download, your dispatch on politechs: Politics, Multimedia and the Internet. If you have tips, comments, or suggestions, email us.
On The Download asked 22 of some of the best Democratic Internet strategists what they thought of the Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates' Web sites. Check the Republican Internet Insiders Poll here.
Though this survey is not at all scientific, here's a quick note on methodology: Of the 22 strategists polled, 15 were unaffiliated and 7 worked for a WH '08 campaigns in some capacity. Therefore, only answers from unaffiliated Internet Insiders were counted in the first question. Also, respondants were polled on Rudy Giuliani's former Web site design -- not the new Web site that launched this week.
Question 1: Which Democratic WH '08 candidate has the most effective Web site?
BarackObama.com -- 5 votes:
"Obama's social network is the bomb... Obama's presentation is wired and Hillary's is very tired."
"Obama has effectively used video to portray himself as a transformational candidate. The social networking aspect of his site captures one of the things Howard Dean used so effectively: giving grass roots and first time organizers a sense over ownership over aspects of the campaign."
"Most effective Democratic site is Obama – best campaign logo in Presidential history, plenty of opportunities to engage visitors and has video available on homepage."
"Obama's website projects momentum. Hillary's projects 'establishment.'"
JohnEdwards.com -- 5 votes:
"Edwards is the only candidate website that's focused outwards in their content creation, and not just creating an walled garden for supporters."
"Win or lose, most candidates fold their websites after each election cycle. After his loss, Edwards intelligently kept a robust site up, became the first to have regular video and audio conversations, and the first to embrace mobile communication. Hillary has the most sophisticated tools and Obama and Richardson have great sites, but Edwards still has the edge."
"All the candidate sites look the same, and all carry similar functionality. Edwards has fun tools: Twitter is oh-so-hot right now, and he's got a Mac OS X widget (even if it's ugly)."
HillaryClinton.com -- 2 votes:
"There were several sites with advanced advocacy and social networking capabilities. Clinton has the edge due to its usability and not assuming everyone understands online social networking. Also has a strong mix of action and issue information."
"Clinton's web site has most tools, best interface, and best navigation to easily find relevant information about the candidate. Some weakness on video and multimedia, but a site built for the long haul."
RichardsonForPresident.com -- 1 vote:
"It's relevant, not too busy, and gives easy access to essential online tools and information. The fully integrated social networking aspects of sites like Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's -- my close second and third choices -- are great. But at this early stage, it's most important that a campaign site is simple, informative, inviting, and aesthetically pleasing. That's why I give the edge to Richardson."
JoeBiden.com, ChrisDodd.com, Gravel2008.us, Kucinich.us, or other -- 2 votes :
"While Obama's web team seems to have gotten the most bang for their buck since launching; Edwards website has the most potential to be interactive and to contribute something new and different - they embrace an model that is outside the box of traditional online campaigns and it shows, they just haven't done much to take advantage of that yet. Clinton's is clearly the best at message control on her site, and her tools are super slick, but lack the fun of Edwards and Obama."
Question 2: Which Republican WH '08 candidate has the most effective Web site?
JohnMcCain.com -- 14 votes:
"Simple and striking splash page with clear call to action; good use of video on homepage and clear actions; best grassroots organizing/fundraising tools on R side."
"It's clean and easy to navigate. With such high broadband penetration these days, the use of embedded flash video of McCain explaining the site tools is good -- it helps personalize and simplify the user experience."
"Most effective Republican site is McCain – it the only site that is truly different from the others and embeds video in the homepage. Mouse-over feature at bottom of home page is innovative."
"While I don't like the death star look (Hey maybe Republicans are into the whole Imperial Storm Trooper thing), he is the only Republican with a tool set than comes close to his Democratic rivals."
"With a design ethos that says, "Let's keep this Empire going," McCain almost wins it; but for design that is intuitive and makes one want to take action, Duncan Hunter actually takes the prize."
"McCain wins --- but only because the other are boring and bare of online tools. It can easily be overcome if Huckabee, Romney, or Giuliani expanded the opportunities on their existing sites.
"It's all about giving money, and after all, what else matters? Plus, the black and white is hot!!!"
MittRomney.com -- 5 votes:
"Most candidates' sites are in the exploratory phase, which means they're not as built out. Romney leads by a long shot in the mobilization category. McCain gets points for cool use of video on the home page without being annoying to the user."
"Many Republican sites are still underdeveloped, and McCain site has clunky FLASH splash page and eerie black motif. The Romney site has an excellent multimedia component and most critical tools available."
"He makes great use of video and the guy is made for TV. There are some interesting features on McCain's
site. But for a guy who's having trouble getting the evangelical crowd to embrace him, I'm not sure why he's got a basketball gambling pool on his site."
"It's a close call between Romney and McCain....Although McCain’s black color scheme is a daring departure from red, white and blue, I can’t help but feel it looks like the wrong choice when connected with his pro-escalation stance."
JoinRudy2008.com -- 1 vote:
"Breaking away from the rest of the presidential pack, Giuliani's site doesn't have much content on the home page - and yet makes it really easy to dig in to the content. His site essentially merges the signup-splash page with the home page. They've made a tough strategic decision to make the home page do one thing really well -- not a zillion things poorly."
ExploreHuckabee.com -- 1 vote:
"'I Like Mike' buttons pick up where the iconic yet abortive Vilsack 'V' left off. Yay branding!"
GoHunter08.com, Brownback.com, JimGilmore08.com, RonPaul.org, TeamTancredo.com, Tommy2008.com or other -- 1 vote or fewer:
"They all seem very 2004 and the Black/White themes are just plain scary. Nothing exciting is happening here at all. It's clearly not on their list of priorities yet."
"On The Download" Democratic (or progressives, as some prefer to be called) Internet Insiders:
Ryan Alexander (Edwards), Jerome Armstrong, Michael Bassik, Joel Bush, Eric Carbone (Biden), Kari Chisholm, Mathew Gross (Edwards), Justin Hamilton, Larry Huynh, Andrea Johnson (Richardson), Jonathan Karush, Tom Matzzie, Nicco Mele, Ari Rabin-Havt, Alan Rosenblatt, Joe Rospars (Obama), Tracy Russo, Scott Shields, Michael Silberman, Randy Stearns (Richardson/Biden), Kevin Thurman (Clinton) and Todd Webster.
Posted at 09:04 AM
Comments
The social networking aspect of his site captures one of the things Howard Dean used so effectively
Did any of them notice that Joe Rospars, who provided content for Howard Dean's Web site and blog, is working as the New Media Director for Barack Obama's presidential campaign?
That would explain why Obama's site captures what Dean did so well.
corinne | 03.23.07 10:36 AM
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Thats strange. How come when I search for an event within my zipcode on Obama's event finder it just loads forever. I even tried two other zip codes that weren't mine but were nearby and still nothing. Hard to believe there are no events for Obama in Oakland.
Did any of these testers actually USE the tools or just see what looked pretty?
JamieR | 03.27.07 07:03 PM
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