So, the election is a full 21 months away and there are already a number of campaigns in "full gear." Being the DC nerd that I am, I went searching for the cool, hip, new features and functionality that campaign sites have for the election.
I was surprised by some of the stuff out there so I ended up doing a review of campaign sites for the 2008 Presidential election. My chart makes it pretty easy to see which candidates recognize the importance of their web site, and have already committed to using the site as a tool to be elected.
I've reviewed all the major players who have official sites (not PAC sites or grassroots supporter sites). I'm assuming that some of these folks have an amazing online strategy including the features listed on my sheet, however to save myself from drowning in my inbox at this time next year, I didn't subscribe to every list and instead based the comparison on what's "promoted" on the site. I'll try to keep this chart updated throughout the election cycle.
Highlights of the review:
- Someone in Hillary's camp obviously read about the lessons learned from the '04 cycle. She took a page from Bush's handbook and is using the site to organize offline. Great idea to start early. Let us know if it works.
- Barack, "Where's your blog?" You're the only D without one.
- Granted John Edwards has a lot of content on his site from his PAC site, but he also has an awesome Mac OS X Widget. (I realize my "nerd level" just increased) If you're a blogger you can sign up to help him too, or grab a badge to put on your site.
- While Kucinich's site is pretty blantantly drupal, he does have some pretty neat user tools including a supporter map.
- Mitt Romney is leading the pack for the R's. He's highlighting videos on MITTtv. You can grab the code to embed the videos too.
Please let me know what you think of my review. If you have any suggestions, let me know and maybe I'll build them into the next version.
