Obama Leads in Online Race

Senator Barack Obama is leading all presidential candidates in visitors to their campaign Web sites, The Nielsen Company reports.

According to Nielsen//NetRatings, BarackObama.com had the most unique visitors in July, with 717,000. Obama

readily outpaced fellow Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, who had 437,000 and 348,000 unique visitors, respectively.

Among Republicans, Fred Thompson’s ImWithFred.com drew the most unique visitors in July, with

381,000, even though he had not yet announced his candidacy. The former Tennessee senator and

“Law and Order” star, who has relied heavily upon the Internet to generate political exposure this

year, announced his candidacy officially at midnight last night in a Web cast on Fred08.com, where

ImWithFred.com traffic is now directed.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani ranked No. 2 among Republicans online, with 124,000 unique

visitors. Mitt Romney ranked a close third, with 116,000 unique visitors. Ron Paul and John McCain

rounded out the Republican campaign Web sites with 113,000 and 104,000 unique visitors,

respectively.

“Consensus has been that Republicans have been slower to take advantage of the Web in their

presidential campaigns, but Fred Thompson may be taking a cue from his Democratic counterparts,”

said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings. “Rather than shying

away from buzz, the Thompson campaign is actively engaging in an online conversation. Thompson’s

online announcement is reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s.”