'Message driven candidate sites' Steve Petersen looked at a new type of candidate sites over at The Bivings Report this week. The websites, which I assume we can label 'Message driven candidate sites', are attempts by some of the 2008 presidential hopefuls to run targeted mini campaigns around specific issues.
Petersen writes:
"Some of the 2008 Presidential hopefuls are campaigning on multiple official sites. In these cases, the candidates are selecting issues on which they're strong"
"This strategy has potential as it enables campaigns to make headway by creating a special site to build a community around a specific issue and to project a clear message that can standalone from the rest of the campaign platform".
It seems like Petersen only has been able to locate four sites of the kind. These are:
Bill Richardson's No Troops Left Behind
Joe Biden's Head to Head 08
John McCain's Mitt vs. Facts (not yet launched)
Joe Biden's Plan for Iraq
Personally I found that while these sites might not be exceedingly interesting to spend time on, they do actually present the information that I, as a voter (had I been one), am looking for on the particular issues – either through videos or just plain text. Some of the sites allow the visitors to sign a petition, other let the readers compare a candidates view on an issue to the other candidates' view on the same issue, like Biden's Head to Head 08. All in all I like the idea of these sites and, as Petersen says, it will be interesting to see how they will affect the election".
- Espen