McCain's Internet Buy

Recently I've talked about John McCain's potential (yet relative) attractiveness to young voters, at least for a GOP candidate, and noted that if he gave it half a shot, he might actually be able to somewhat hold-down Republican losses among young voters (though it is extremely unlikely he could actually beat or even tie Clinton or Obama among Millennials). Well it looks like the outreach has started, at least online.

Hat tip to Everyday Citizen for tipping me off to this:

The image comes from an ad now running on (Democratic candidate) Nancy Boyda's MySpace page. So McCain is obviously buying ads on MySpace. I'm not sure if this is a new strategy or an old one, but it is certainly a good one, as an article in the Washington Post made clear earlier this week (emphasis mine):

Obama aides say their goal has been to "build an online relationship" with supporters who will not only give money but also knock on doors and help register voters for the candidate. To do so, they have spent heavily on Internet ads -- $2.6 million in February alone, more than 10 times as much as Clinton and more than 20 times as much as McCain.

...

Obama has targeted unlikely sites, such as the conservative Washington Times, where an ad for the candidate appeared yesterday on the same page as a story about an economic speech he gave that morning. But a click on the ad did not lead to a request for donations; instead, it took users to a page where they could sign up for invitations to campaign events.

This approach -- not directly asking for donations -- has been part of the campaign's strategy of slow-walking its way into supporters' wallets. Newcomers are led to a blog and an online store and are offered a chance to join local Obama groups.

McCain's ad seems to have one thing going for it - like Obama's online ads it does not lead directly to a fundraising appeal, but rather seeks the support of young viewers for one of his policy platforms - reigning in government spending, ostensibly by cutting government pork. By asking those potential supporters to sign a petitions, McCain is looking to build up a list of young voters he can geographically target later in the campaign.