Clark claims to be the big hit online
Retired Army general Wesley K. Clark's campaign announced yesterday that it had reached a milestone -- on Sunday, Clark's website beat former Vermont governor Howard B. Dean's website in Internet traffic.
As a victory claim this was somewhat arcane, and was disputed by Dean's campaign. Based on a web-ranking program called Alexa, Clark's staff members say they had the 9,027th-most popular website in the world Sunday; Dean's site was ranked 9,707th.
But regardless of the standings, yesterday's announcement was a significant statement of purpose for the Clark campaign, a challenge to Dean's so-far-undisputed role as the candidate with the most online buzz.
Dean's Internet ascendancy -- marked by his early use of the Meetup.com organizing site and a popular interactive weblog -- has been a major source of his campaign's support and a major contributor to his fund-raising victories. Dean has reaped financial dividends from online stunts such as his "Cheney Challenge," when the campaign raised $500,000 online on the same July day that Vice President Dick Cheney raised $300,000 at a traditional fund-raiser.
But Clark's staff has roots in the Internet, as well. The founders of the "Draft Clark" movement met online and used the Internet to collect pledges for donations and letters begging Clark to run. When Clark entered the race in September, he hired some "Draft Clark" leaders to continue their online marketing drive.
Yesterday, Clark's Internet staff announced a series of gimmicks they hope to parlay into media attention and cash. Among them is the "ZIP Drive," a fund-raising contest that will reward the ZIP code that garners the highest number of online donations by Nov. 24. (The prize: a personal visit from Clark.)
And last night, Clark took part in the first of what his staff calls a "Wire-side Chat," answering questions online from a student center at New Hampshire's Keene State College. Clark's website said the chat drew 3,500 questions.
The Internet has been a mixed blessing for Clark; when his campaign made some early stumbles, some supporters expressed their frustration in online rants that were picked up by news media.
And some political analysts, even those with experience in online organizing, are skeptical of the Web's importance when it comes to key primary states.
But John Hlinko, Clark's director of Internet strategy, said he expects the Web to help the Clark campaign consolidate support more quickly after his late entry. The Internet, he said, is "probably the single best indicator of grass-roots enthusiasm."
Judging by the quibbles over ranking methodology, the Dean campaign seems to agree. Yesterday, Dean's technical staff said that the Clark campaign relied on a Web-tracking program that uses a too small polling sample of the Web and that Dean's website gets about twice as much traffic.
"The Dean for America website is one of the most crucial organizing tools of this campaign," Dean spokesman Jay Carson said. "It has been, and continues to be, the most popular site."
