Candidates: The Websites

The websites of the two top delegate-count leaders, John McCain and Barack Obama, are interesting in their differences, and for the most part they mirror the candidates' individual points of view and the way each of their campaigns have been run.

The first notable difference is the way you enter the websites: on johnmccain.com, you go straight to the homepage, but on barackobama.com you first get a page where you can sign up for email updates from the candidate's campaign. This is particularly interesting because the move to get email addresses from visitors mirrors the Obama's view that his campaign is based on getting people involved in a common effort.

This view is repeated throughout the website, and the home page displays the independent video created by musicians in support of Obama. Instead of making the Senator the focus of the news feed, most of the stories are based on news coming from the states and polls, and oftentimes tell of different ways to get involved in the effort to get Obama elected.

Conversely, the website of John McCain is centered around the candidate; his goals and promises are within the first few inches of text on the page, along with the leading news feed story, which announces President Bush's endorsement for McCain. Other things within the first box on the page is the link for a video about McCain's war service record and his sacrifices for his country. The next box shows McCain's delegate lead over the rest of the Republican candidates.

The McCain website is heavily focused on getting people to know what he stands for and what his views are. Obama's website is littered with quotes such as "We are the change that we have been waiting for." It makes sense that because the candidates are so different that the websites would be so different, but it is interesting to see the differences mirrored in the subtle ways the websites are constructed. On McCain's page, visitors will find a candidate-based page of political views and goals, plus his service record, and on Obama's page visitors find ways to get involved in the election and are encouraged to get out and be active. There is a page for Obama's views, but a link to it isn't featured on the page in a spotlight; rather it is included in the less-visible tabs on the top of the page. Once clicked on, it seems to be a well-developed page, but it is interesting that it isn't among the boxes in the home page, because it is much more visitor-oriented than candidate-oriented.

In the end, both candidates are proud of what they've accomplished so far, and it shows on their websites, but that is about where the similarities end. The websites are as different as the candidates themselves.