by John McCormick
Sen. Barack Obama is leading all presidential candidates in campaign Web site visits, The Nielsen Company reported today.
Obama’s web site had the most unique visitors in July, with 717,000, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Fellow Democrats Sen. Hillary Clinton had 437,000 unique visits, followed by 348,000 for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
Among Republicans, Fred Thompson’s ImWithFred.com drew the most unique visitors in July, with 381,000, even though he did not formally endorse his candidacy until Wednesday. The former Tennessee senator and “Law and Order” star has relied heavily on the Internet to generate interest in his candidacy.
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,” Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of the firm’s media analytics, said in a statement.