How the Candidates Fare Online

Some interesting nuggets from Nielsen Wire:

Unique visitors to BarackObama.com outpaced those to JohnMcCain.com nearly two to one in September. The unique audience at BarackObama.com went from 6.1 million in August to 7.9 million in September (+31%). During the same time period, JohnMcCain.com’s unique audience grew by 56% — from 2.7 million to 4.2 million unique visitors.

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Although McCain has tried to downplay several public relations challenges that occurred during his campaign, the terms “Katie Couric,” “Interview,” and “David Letterman” are as closely associated with him as “reform,” “economy,” and “Freddie Mac.”

Similarly, Obama’s efforts to distance himself from real estate developer Tony Rezko and Rev. Jeremiah Wright failed — in the online realm, at least. Obama is as closely associated with “Rezko,” “Plumber,” and “Wright” as he is with “economy,” “financial,” and “reform.”