Essay 3: Red and Blue are not that different.

Liz Stewart
Essay 3 – Politics
2.25.08

I chose to examine the candidate websites of Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee. I found these specific candidates to be of interest because neither of them are the current front-runner for their party candidacy and both are in a struggling, trying to stay in the race. I thought it would be interesting to see the similarities and differences in how these candidates in the same position but from different parties would run their websites.
Right from the beginning I had a major issue with Hillary Clinton’s website. When I entered the web address for her site I was taken to a “splash” or introduction page asking me to sign up “as a supporter.” The only information presented on that page are boxes for first name, last name, zip code and email; at the bottom in smaller print is the link to “skip signup and go to HillaryClinton.com.” Mike Huckabee’s home page also solicited support, but the signup box was a small portion of the page, and navigation links for the site were present at the top of his initial page. Once past Hillary’s splash page, both candidates have similar home pages, although Clinton’s offers more navigation options.
It’s clear that the main goal of both the websites is to garner votes, money, and volunteers.
What’s most striking to me in comparing these two sites is the immense similarity in their site layout. Although the content is different, from the top navigation bar on both sites you will find a Biography page, a Newsroom page, Blog page, a page listing issues important to the candidate, and most striking – the very last link on the right of the main navigation bar of both pages is a contrasting color (actually both red) link that says “Contribute.”
After further examination I did start to see some key differences. The most used color for headlines, text, navigation bars, links, etc., on Mike Huckaebee’s page is red. Hillary’s is overwhelmingly blue. Not exactly a surprise since those are the colors that generally represent their party on election maps (red states, blue states).
Hillary Clinton’s page offers a Spanish language page, with the link to that page very visible at the top of her page, written in Spanish. Mike Huckabee offers no alternative languages.
Also, Clinton’s page dedicates a box to the March 4th primary states, and Mike’s doesn’t. Perhaps that is a reflection of the close delegate count Hillary still holds against her rival in the Democratic party, and the mathematical impossibility of Huckabee winning enough delegates to get his party’s nomination.
In one of our assigned readings by Kathy Gill, “The Race of the Web Sites 2004″, she found that generally democrats were ahead of republicans with their website user-friendliness and use of media. Because of this I was surprised to find that Mike Huckabee’s site offered RSS feeds and Hillary Clinton’s did not.
However, Huckabee’s home page was more cluttered, with 19 video archive links and thumbnails on the homepage. Both candidates have links to recent news articles relevant to (and usually in support of) their campaigns. However, on Hillary’s page a small picture is displayed next to the title of the article, which helps the user to easily determine the topic and not get lost in a sea of text. On Huckabee’s page more than 10 article titles with links are on his front page, all in the same size and color text, and in the same area of the page, which was less interactive and boring.
My overall evaluation of these sites is that they are both very professional, easy to navigate, advertisment-free, obviously made by skilled web designers, and updated frequently. It is a clear indication that on both sides of the isle, the internet is now a vital tool in running a presidential campaign. Hillary has a slight advantage over Huckabee in the design of her site, with her homepage being less cluttered and slightly more visually stimulating.

References

“The Race of the Web Sites 2004″ from  ACM Interactions  by Kathy Gill (November-December 2004)  Retrieved February 25th, 2008 from

http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/gill_ACM_2004.pdf

Hillary for President. Retrieved on February 25, 2008 from

http://hillaryclinton.com/

Mike Huckabee for President. Retrieved on February 25, 2008 from

http://mikehuckabee.com/

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