March 09, 2007
On The Download: GOP 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.
In true National Journal style, On The Download asked 24 of the best Republican Internet strategists what they thought of the Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates' Web sites. Though this survey never even esteems to be to scientific, here's a quick note on methodology: Of the 24 strategists polled, 15 were unaffiliated and 9 worked for a WH '08 campaigns in some capacity. Therefore, all 24 responses were used when asked about the first question on Dems' Web sites, while only the unaffiliated strategists' answers were used for the question about GOP web sites.
Question 1: Which Democratic WH '08 candidate has the most effective Web site?
BarackObama.com -- 10 votes
"On the Democrat side, Obama has the best offline story to tell right now, and it is translating effortlesssly to his online efforts."
"The emphasis on social networking is the perfect fit for Obama, who has already shown himself to be the most popular candidate on social networking sites like Facebook."
"Very rewarding site, visually, a lot of rich content, very modern and sophisticated, and a great logo."
HillaryClinton.com -- 7 votes
"Her site is slightly more attractive than (Obama's), and I appreciate the lack of a landing page."
"The video component on Hilary's site is very good for her because she comes across as accessible when normally she does not."
JohnEdwards.com -- 5 votes
"Edwards emphasis on social networking is exactly what he needs -- supporters generating some buzz in states like Iowa and New Hampshire. He's harnessing all the Web 2.0 tools to do it."
"John Edwards is trying way too hard and making a lot of mistakes in the process."
"Say wht you will about the rest of his campaign, Edwards understands how to effectively use the Internet."
JoeBiden.com, ChrisDodd.com, Gravel2008.us, Kucinich.us, RichardsonForPresident.com or other -- 2 votes or fewer
"Oddly Joe Biden has the best site. Poor use of real estate on the upper left, but the home page is simple... and the video is smartly displayed."
Question 2: Which Republican WH '08 candidate has the most effective Web site?
JohnMcCain.com -- 8 votes:
"His site is best because it is, by far, the best looking -- and easiest to navigate. I also give him lots of credit for the use of video."
"Brilliant use of design and iconography. Good to see that the campaign had the courage to throw out the tired and boring 'red, white, and blue' color scheme."
"McCain wins on feature alone -- the other sites don't have much going on yet. The fact that McCain wins with that awful black and white design and phony social netwrok is a real indictment of the effort of the Republicans so far."
MittRomney.com -- 3 votes
"While Romney's site is not as pleasing to the eye as McCain's, it gets the job done in other places. 'MittTV' is innovated and functional and the site integrates new technologies like YouTube and Facebook."
"Romney seems to think people love to scroll and scroll and scroll..."
"Not as tight as it should be, but good, and the feed from conservative blogs is a nice touch."
GoHunter08.com -- 2 votes fewer
"If I had to pick one, I'd settle with Duncan Hunter because at least he is trying. The others should, or at least act, like they know better."
JoinRudy2008.com, Brownback.com, JimGilmore08.com, ExploreHuckabee.com, RonPaul.org, TeamTancredo.com, Tommy2008.com or other -- 1 vote or none
"Rudy's sign up form on the homepage is very smart. The number one thing these candidates should be doing right now is building their databases."
"It doesn't appear that any of the Republicans learned much from 2004. Their sites have actually moved backward in time and are less functional than the previous generation."
"On The Download" Republican Internet Insiders: Consultant David All, Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis, Heritage Foundation's Robert Bluey, New Media Strategies' Bill Beutler, DeMint Senior Communications Adviser Tim Chapman, Family Research Council Web Director Joe Carter, Decision08.net's Mark Coffey, TownHall.com's Chuck DeFeo, RedState.com's Erick Erickson, Romney consultant Mindy Finn, Hopkins Group Melissa Hopkins, McCain consultant Patrick Hynes, Campaign Solutions (McCain) Mark SooHoo, Campaign Solutions (McCain) Carter Kidd, Townhall's Matt Lewis, Huckabee consultant/LCM Strategies Chris Maiorana, New Media Strategies Howard Mortman, Schwarzenegger Internet Communications Director Jimmy Orr, Campaign Solutions (McCain) Michael Palmer, Giuliani consultant/ex-RNC Internet Director Patrick Ruffini, Romney online communications director Stephen Smith, Bush '04 eCampaign Director Mike Turk and Brownback e-Campaign Coordinator Leon Wolf.
Posted at 09:10 AM
Comments
On the Dem side, I'd agree that Obama's and Hillary's are the better two. Edwards doesn't even have a ginormous picture of him at the moment, just a few small pictures towards the bottom. Ann Coulter is getting almost better placement than him on his own site.
Hillary doesn't have an issues page, which might hurt her in the long run. Maybe she's assuming that people know her stances on the issues but given her public stature, that might not be a good assumption to make.
Obama's site is good, but the menus are a little cluttered. There are a lot of entries and you kind of get information overload. It'd probably be better to break it up to entry pages for each topic - Issues with a list, Learn with a list, etc. Otherwise you're bombarding your user with too many choices and that's not a good thing.
james | 03.09.07 09:56 AM
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I agree with the rankings. The GOP candidates have a long way to come as far as web capability.
Gop3.com | 03.09.07 10:04 AM
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Obama and McCain clearly have the most compelling sites. McCain in particular has a really clean feel to it. Edwards is a mix - they have a really nice photo montage going with "ken burns effect" pans across the images which really bring it to life. Most of the candidates seem to have grasped that video is important but they aren't really using it as effectively as they could - where are the broadcast quality video releases? Where are the print quality photographs - Dean in '04 had over 500 publications of images from the web site - that's priceless free media (I know I shot most of the images). At this stage of the game, when the candidates don't have a large traveling press, getting free video and images out can get a lot of coverage.
John Pettitt | 03.09.07 01:58 PM
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I belive that RON PAUL will win in 2008. We need FREEDOM and RON PAUL will give us the FREEDOM he is NOT for the real id act, plus he is for gun rights. HE wants to bring the troops home.
Jeremy w. | 10.31.07 12:47 PM
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