US senator Barack Obama is a Mac and his counterpart Hillary Clinton is a PC. Translated, that means Apple Obama oozes user-friendly charisma. In contrast, his Windows arch rival Clinton is all about geeky control.
That cleverly techie, if crude, magic-versus-machine comparison may make you wonder how the duellists - the senators are candidates for the Democratic Party's 2008 US presidential nomination - come across online. It's an important issue since, as British analyst and writer for The Guardian Gary Younge says, the internet 'will play a vital, possibly decisive, role'.
To assess the candidates' online credibility, I consult Wikipedia, which offers an exhaustive, clickable list of contenders. The roll call encompasses everyone from nobodies to the likes of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. The Republican Party politician's website (
www.joinrudy2008.com) is quintessentially patriotic and partisan. It's smart and crisp if heavily money-oriented. Cementing the assumption that online fundraising will be key to any candidate's campaign, the most striking feature is a fat red button marked 'donate'.
All the key hopefuls slap such a button on their home page. The one displayed to visitors by Senator Obama (
www.barackobama.com) is fractionally more discreet - unlike Barack TV, which is as one-track-minded as it sounds. But in true Web 2.0 style, the handsome latecomer's hub offers all kinds of personalisation opportunities. For example, you can write your own Barack blog, however much leeway that gives you.
The website devoted to 'Team Hillary' (
www.hillaryclinton.com) is less folksy than Obama's production, sporting navy livery redolent of Giuliani's effort and suggesting Clinton wants to mirror his safe-pair-of-hands aura - or hired the same designer. A neat touch is the 'Hillcasts' feature, which is similar to Barack TV. Appropriating the idea of webcasting into her name makes her sound more with-it than her rivals.
All the sites have an all-things-to-all-people feel unlikely to drive or entice much traffic. The 2008 US election pundit blog sites are little better. You might expect the Web to be awash with sparkling election blogs banged out by man-in-the-street and girl-next-door seers. Most, however, are hedonistic personal diaries that scream party animal, not political animal.