Look at me!

The 2008 presidential candidates are going high tech. As if the myspace type websites wern't enough, the campaigns are now throwing their money at political blogs and google adsense.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in the entire 2004 campaign the parties and candidates spent a total of around $17,000 for ads on political blogs. During one week last month Democrat John Edwards spent 'nearly the same amount' on more than 25 liberal blogs.

In the first quarter alone Edwards spend $37,981 on ads on political blogs. Chris Dodd spend $24,653, Hillary Clinton $23,277, Barack Obama $12,036, Mitt Romney (the only Republican listed) $4,207.

Ads on blogs are cost effective when compared to traditional advertising. At this stage in the campaign the candidates are trying to appeal to the most extreme of their parties, as they are typically the only voters in primary elections. The majority of these party loyalists read blogs on a daily basis. By having ads on these blogs the candidate is putting his or her face in front of these prized voters in a very efficient way.

Candidates are also experimenting with Google AdWords. Sen. McCain is aggresively using this service. McCain's text running ads are pegged to some 2,500 words. Mitt Romney is using AdWords with a coupld hundred key words. How well does AdWords work? You tell me!--------------->