A study conducted by Internet marketing research firm Rimm-Kaufman Group, found that there was not a particularly significant use of paid search ads during the 2006 election cycle. The study is less than pure, in my view, because it includes any ad with political content, including some third party advertisers selling buttons on CafePress who are unaffiliated with any campaign. Still, some of their conclusions are notable. For instance, red ads outnumbered blue ads two-to-one. And blue ads were three times more likely to be negative than red ads. Other reports reveal that Republicans are more likely to buy search terms, while Democrats are more likely to advertise on blogs.

That set me off to wonder what the presidential candidates were up to now. So I did searches of all the known candidates and compiled the results below.

Republicans seem to be first out of the starting gate in the paid search arena.

Mitt Romney returns ads for both himself and John MCain. Curiously, McCain’s ad is labeled “Mitt romney” but points to ExploreMcCain.com
John McCain returns an ad for Romney on Google, but an ad for himself on Yahoo.
Rudy Giuliani returns an ad for Romney on Google, but an ad for himself on Yahoo.
Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, and Sam Brownback, all return ads only for Romney.
Gingrich, Pataki, Gilmore, Thompson, Paul returned no ads at all.

Democrats are more thinly represented in the search ad-stakes.

Bill Richardson returned an ad for himself.
Tom Vilsack returned an ad for himself.
Wesley Clark returned an ad for his podcasts, which might not be campaign related.
Clinton, Obama, Edwards, and Kucinich returned no ads at all.

President 2008 returned ads for Romney and Bill Richardson.
Campaign 2008 returned ads for Giuliani on Google, McCain on Yahoo, and Colbert/Stewart on Yahoo (I don’t think they have announced yet).

Conclusions: Romney is clearly the most aggressive advertiser with his name displaying on searches for himself and five other candidates. I wonder if his neglect of the rest of the field (including Gingrich) is a clue as to his opinion of their competitiveness or likelyhood of entering the race. Romney and McCain are the only candidates to advertise on competitor’s search terms.

The most striking observation is that none of the leading Democrats are advertising at all. Obviously, it is still early, but these ads aren’t expensive and they can generate traffic and help to channel prospective supporters. Republicans are in this game by themselves. This is surprising because previous studies suggest that there is an ideological disparity in media preferences. The Red Media/Blue Media divide shows Democrats leaning toward the Internet as a news source. Since the Internet is perceived to be friendly to progressives, why have they not pursued a greater presence?

I also did searches of five issues – Iraq War, Social Security, Global Warming, Civil Liberties, and Minimum Wage. There were no candidate ads returned in any of them. This seems like an opportunity slipping away.

I’ll update this survey on an irregular schedule as the campaign proceeds.

Take cover. Get ready for the blast that’s about to sweep through the media. A former presidential candidate said something that can be easily taken out of context and blown up into an absurd controversy by lazy and unethical media whores. Therefore, it will be.

At an economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, John Kerry was asked a question about the U.S. government’s relations with Iran prior to the election of Ahmadinejad. Kerry had the audacity to answer the question honestly and correctly recognizing the reality of Americas place in today’s world diplomacy. Unfortunately, he failed to couch the answer in phraseology that would prevent the misuse of his thoughts. Here is what he said:

“When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don’t advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy. So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East – in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”

Lookout! Incoming! It has already started. This morning Fox News’ Brain Wilson (recently promoted to VP and Washington bureau chief) asked Democratic “strategist”, Bob Beckel, if John Kerry should be calling the U. S. an international pariah. The headline on Foxnews.com is: “Kerry Blasts Foreign Policy, Says U.S. Has Become ‘International Pariah.'”

Never mind the fact that that is neither what Kerry said, nor the obvious intent of his comments. And forget that both surveys of international leaders and populations affirm the accuracy of Kerry’s statement. Fox (the only cable news channel that does not bring you the usual left wing bias), will find this just too juicy a morsel to exploit and too easy to misrepresent.

So be prepared for the Fox-led onslaught condemning these unpatriotic remarks that embolden the terrorists. And all public persons need to be aware of their QQ: Quotation Quotient. That means that you must now vet everything you are contemplating saying in public through a filter to ascertain its QQ. Never say anything that can be edited down to a misrepresentative soundbite.

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