e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

Fineman: Judging a Candidate by His Website

February 1st, 2007

My old Austin buddy Chris Cosart passes along this Newsweek column by Howard Fineman, who compares Hillary and Obama’s websites and more traditional offline organizing efforts and finds Barak’s lacking. Um, yeah. The guy just decided to run a couple of months ago, and you’re comparing him to a candidate who’s been planning for this moment since, oh, about two decades ago? Fineman focuses on one particular New Hampshire activist who’s beseiged by requests from Hillary’s supporters, really wants to work with Obama, but hasn’t heard back from his campaign. Hmmmmm, maybe this is more of a sign of how nervous Clinton’s campaign is?

I don’t have a dog in this hunt (yet), but I think it’s also a little early to be judging Obama in part by a campaign site whose final version won’t be unveiled for another week. Experts in the field have not been so complimentary of the Clinton campaign’s online efforts thus far. Fineman ends with the line, “I know it sounds crazy — it’s a year from the first vote — but Obama better get that Web site up and running, fast.” Somehow I suspect that he just might.

– cpd

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Entry Filed under: Websites, Elections