This morning, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) announced through a web video that she would be forming a presidential exploratory committee, stating that she would “be holding live online video chats this week.” Sen. Barack Obama (D-NY) also announced his exploratory committee earlier this week by posting a flash video on his website. These recent moves are a testament to the growing influence of the blogosphere/netroots community.
Below is a comparison of how the announced presidential candidates in both major political parties (listed in alphabetical order) have engaged the online community:
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
– Presidential announcement on web
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R-VA)
– No known official website
Former Gov. Rudy Giuliani (R-NY)
– Exploratory committee website, no major interactive online presence
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
– Exploratory committee website, no major interactive online presence
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)
– No known official website
UPDATE: Paul does have a very basic website.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)
– Exploratory committee website, no major interactive online presence
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
– Basic website, no major interactive online presence
Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI)
– Basic website, no major interactive online presence
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)
– Blog
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
– Exploratory committee announcement made on web
– Will host live online video chats
– Blog coming soon
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
– Blog
– Flickr feed
– MySpace page
– Facebook page
– YouTube feed
Sen. John Edwards (D-NC)
– Blog
– Fickr feed
– MySpace page
– Facebook page
– YouTube feed
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
– Video blog
– Members can post comments, upload video, and chat with each other
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)
– Exploratory committee announcement made on web
– DailyKos diary
Former Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA)
– MySpace page
– Facebook page
– YouTube feed
– Linkedln site
– Daily Kos diary
– MyDD diary
– Online listening tour
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