Tech & Biz

McCain vs. Obama.com?

by julianw | June 24, 2008 at 11:06 am

618 views | 5 Recommendations | 5 comments

The U.S. election is months away, but Obama's campaign seems well on its way to victory in one poltical contest: the battle for the internet. Obama now has one million Facebook supporters to McCain's 150, 000, and that statistic is worrying some Republican strategists.

Barack Obama's campaign's superiority in its use of the internet as a political tool in the US presidential race was underlined in by a new media conference in New York yesterday, where senior Republican advisers admitted their party had become complacent in the past four years and lost the initiative.

Mindy Finn, who led internet strategy for Mitt Romney during the primaries, said the Republicans had lost their edge.

"The right was very big on the web in 2000, 2002 and 2004, and Bush was effective at getting his message out through videos and the blogosphere," said Finn. "But now we've got complacent."

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers are trying to brand McCain as an internet-challenged Luddite.

I only recently became aware that John McCain doesn't know how to use a computer. I suppose it's not that shocking, a lot of people his age aren't necessarily adept with newish technologies and a U.S. Senator is in a position to have his computing done for him. Still, I could see having some concerns about the leadership of someone who doesn't use the dominant new technology of our time.

Do we want a commander-in-chief who can't use a computer without assistance?

Some interesting questions come up. Do McCain's questionable computer skills affect his electability? Does Obama's internet supremacy reflect anything other than the lower average age of his supporters? And how are conservative internet communities such as RedState reacting to claims that they are being outmuscled by their liberal counterparts?

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Rob Walker

at 11:45 on June 24th, 2008

McCain doesn't know how to use a computer? In this day and age?

People might complain about Obama's lack of experience, but I bet he knows how search google and check his mail.

I actually heard Obama has a team set up to search websites and TV shows to find inaccuracies and slurs, thus preventing another Kerry 'Swift Boat' fiasco before it even starts.

It will be interesting to see this played out in the long haul. I'd like to see the first black president of the United States in my lifetime, and I'm a Canadian!

Luiz Castro

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 11:52 on June 24th, 2008

julianw, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Jarrett Martineau

at 12:07 on June 24th, 2008

People who care about this issue are those familiar enough with computers to be aware that this discussion is even happening. Arguably, many of these 'younger', internet-savvy folks are relative newbies to the world of politics, but the bottom line is that Obama has succeeded in making them feel connected to the campaign and the election. That their engagement comes in the form of a comment posted to a Facebook group is, perhaps, the clearest indication that Obama's camp is reaching people not only where they live, but where they spend most of their time: online.

amyjudd

at 12:19 on June 24th, 2008

I'm not surprised at all that McCain can't use a computer - most of his 'fan base' can't use a computer either. In my opinion the younger tech savvy voters are definitely more in tune with Obama, mostly because Obama at least seems he was born in the computer age, unlike McCain who was born in age of the typewriter. No offense to him though.