In '08 Race, Web Tactics Are Even More Integral

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The Wall Street Journal

In '08 Race, Web Tactics Are Even More Integral
Handicapping Field Is a Bigger Chore As Goals Diverge
By AMY SCHATZ
March 19, 2007; Page A6

WASHINGTON -- John Edwards topped the field of Democratic presidential contenders in the liberal blog DailyKos's latest straw poll. But Barack Obama has the most "friends" on MySpace. Hillary Rodham Clinton, meanwhile, has drawn much heavier traffic to her Web site than either of her biggest competitors. So who's winning the "Internet primary" so far?

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For Mr. Edwards, widely considered the main Democratic contender behind the front-running senators, it is a way to tap into and show prominence among the liberal activists who have outsize clout in the party's primaries and could help him pull off an upset. For Mr. Obama, it allows him to capture the wave of excitement over his campaign. For Mrs. Clinton, who has perhaps the most organized political infrastructure, the Web gives her a more methodical vehicle for transmitting a message and organizing supporters and fund-raisers.

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Some analysts say such attention is overblown. After all, Mr. Dean, after cleaning up the informal netroots primary, didn't win a single physical primary or caucus. "There ain't no winning or losing except on Election Day," says Phil Noble, a political consultant who specializes in Internet strategy... Republican's campaigns, too, are experimenting with ways to use the Internet to their advantage. But the notions of "netroots" and influential bloggers are most heavily concentrated among Democrats, while Republican candidates' sites are getting less attention and traffic.

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In previous years, candidates mostly used the Internet to communicate with supporters and raise money. That is still a major focus, but this time around, they are also trying to generate more online buzz, which they hope will translate into more local volunteers and votes in important states... Mrs. Clinton's focus thus far has been on using the Internet for fund raising and to communicate directly with supporters, through online video chats and a tightly controlled blog area on her site. Her campaign has significant work to do if it wants to win over the most committed online activists, who continue to complain about her vote for the Iraq war and refusal to apologize about it. In this month's straw poll on the leading Democratic blog DailyKos, for example, Mrs. Clinton received 784 votes from about 20,000 votes cast -- placing her in fourth, below New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Supporters have contributed just $81 toward her campaign on the affiliated grass-roots funding site ActBlue, compared with well over $1 million for Mr. Edwards.

Mr. Obama's campaign has been the most active in helping give young supporters social-networking tools with which they can get involved in the campaign, but which don't require large donations. Sites like Facebook allow users to form their own groups, interact with each other and plan social events. On Mr. Obama's site, a feature dubbed MyObama allows supporters to form groups so they can help figure out how to help his candidacy. Some are bundling together small cash donations from friends, or strangers, for the campaign. Others are using it to organize local meetings for supporters.

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