John McCain Online

By Jim Fryar

Mentions have been made of late about the degree of internet support for various candidates and pointing out that John McCain hasn’t the sort of support enjoyed by Obama. Online support is an important part of modern campaigning and we should make every endeavor to improve our visibility in this area.

I was encouraged by an Email from Stephen R Maloney, part of which I include below. Stephen is a great asset to have onside and has impressed me with his work to the point where I posted about him on an Australian blog to give some of those I am politically aligned with a few ideas on campaigning.

I first met Stephen when he was campaigning for William Russell, who has taken on the very difficult task of defeating Porky Mertha in district 12 PA. William has set a difficult task for himself as can be seen in the Wikipedia entry for the seat: -

The 12th Pennsylvania congressional district is located in southwestern Pennsylvania. It is a heavily Gerrymandered district……….

The district was drawn specifically for Murtha, including many heavily Democratic regions, while leaving more right-leaning Pittsburgh suburban regions to the 4th or 18th district, and rural conservative regions to the 3rd or 9th district.

You only have to look at the map of the district to know from the strange and impractical way it is drawn to know something is very smelly there. Still it has to be said that a serious candidate working hard can make a hell of a difference. He may just win, but even if he misses out, his efforts are going to help us in November.

Remember that a Presidential candidate has a much easier job of it if supported by a great team of Congressional and Senate candidates fighting for every vote they can get, and with that influencing all outcomes. If you support McCain, get behind your local candidate as well.

Here is part of what Stephen had to say: -

John McCain's online support is not yet anywhere near the levels achieved by Barack Obama, but that situation is beginning to change. It's essential that bloggers and others work with each other to generate online support and coalitions

Obviously, John McCain is a tremendous campaigner, one who can take some very hard punches and keep fighting effectively. McCain core supporters, are perhaps not as into online politics as Barack Obama's army of know-little college freshmen and sophomores, but McCain's on-line efforts are beginning to pay some real dividends.

One very positive recent development is the large (1500 plus) "Rudy Supporters on Yahoo" joined America's Mayor and became the "Rudy Supporters for McCain." Other groups with a strong online presence, including Romney supporters, are turning toward McCain. Apparently, many, many people are making donations online to McCain's site: http://johnmccain.com.

If you want to see what's happening with McCain online, just google some obvious terms, such as "John McCain" + "blogs." I just did so, and the number that came up was 29,100,000! That doesn't look like a minimal presence. 

Online campaigning is not everything, it is extremely important, but will not win elections on its own as Ron Paul seems to have discovered. A credible candidate however with a credible message, as ours has can be assisted enormously by large numbers getting behind him on the net. So join us.