I'll have to say this seems like an empty gimmick to me David. I think that you made the points I'd respond with in a post you wrote recently about effective emails.

Sure something like this might drive traffic to McCain's site but how does it lead to any kind of real engagement with voters on the things they care about (even if they are independent and haven't formed any sort of opinion)? If you want to do sports then point your browser to ESPN.com, it doesn't seem fitting for a Presidential Candidate to be spending time and resources on this whether he is a sports fan or not. To your question, where's the blog? Now that could be a way to get independents engaged in a real way.

You wrote this in that post the other day and I think it applies here:

The truth is that you're not connecting with me. Not even in the slightest. And though you have my email address which you can add to your list, it'll never be a valuable asset. I'll never...ever...care...about you (unless you change).

Too often, campaigns focus on answering the wrong question, "How do we obtain thousands of email addresses for likely supporters?" Instead, they should be focusing on, "How do we build several email lists of people that actually read our content and care about what we're saying (and then take the desired course of action)?"

So why would they be doing this? Well maybe to get some email addresses, or get some traffic to the domain. But how does that translate to actually caring about the content of the web site? It is the exact same problem you outlined for email with new packaging.

"Congratulations you've made it into the final 4, now you can read about my plan for national security!" I say that jokingly, but on a serious note how do people get from basketball to talking about these issues with McCain, because that's the only way this has value in my opinion.

ok raven, i'll give you credit for a few things. you're right in that the bracket challenge doesn't allow for discussion or connection with mccain and a blog would certainly be a better step for his website.

however, i think that this action isn't quite so empty and it will definitely help him out this month. you have to remember that mccain is an old dude, and he needs to find ways to connect with a younger electorate. sports is HUGE here and the NCAA tourney is definitely going to be talked about everywhere all month, probably more so than the election. so why not do something to connect with that? its fun, easy, and helps people like you and me connect to a guy that is 70 years old and running for president.

how many of your buddies will go head to head with you in a bracket challenge, let alone let you even glimpse their predictions? i think it was a good move, a step towards connecting with the average joe who likes a little distraction from the seriousness of life and has the couple of seconds to fill out another bracket and see how he matches up to mccain.

phoenix

This is a clever way to build your email list and to humanize McCain a bit. Nothing more, nothing less.

http://www.bivingsreport.com

Raven -

What I like most about you is that you're a tech purist. Until you get what you and I would consider the main course, you're not ready for dessert. I hear ya brother.

Having a blog seems so...well...2004. But, the world doesn't operate through our lens (yet).

I'm simply calling a single a single. I'm not saying he hit a homerun but they won the news of the day - and that's worth something in my book.

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David All
The David All Group
http://davidallgroup.com
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I'm constantly complaining that nobody pays attention to what has come before and builds on it. This is another prime example.

The March Madness tourney on a Presidential website was actually done in 2004 by the Bush campaign as a tool for college students to compete in recruiting volunteers. The effort brought in thousands of student volunteers and was tied to the political efforts to both a) win the election and b) mobilize voters.

While the Bush campaign site is no longer online, you can get a sense of the effort from the Wayback Machine by clicking here.

I'm not sure what giving away fleece jackets to people who beat McCain does for the campaign. It sends a message that "He's a loser so I got a jacket or pin." That's probably not what they want to convey when they're running behind in the polls.

There's nothing new here, and what's worse, there is yet another poorly conceived effort by McCain's camp.

McCain's picks for the Final Four are all four #1 seeds. In the past five years, only six out of 20 #1 seeds have made it to the Final Four. Most likely only one top-seed will make it. I'm only a casual college hoops fan and I know this, so it makes McCain seem like he's faking it.

I've noticed that McCain's emails have been different. I blogged about it just now;

McCain's Strange Emails

I think this is an excellent idea by the McCain team (much better than their "give us $100 and we'll send you a hat" gimmick). What I don't like is how safe his picks are. He picked a couple of 10 seeds and a 9 and I think the rest were the higher ranked team. Anyone knows there are way more upsets than that. Take a chance John!!

www.timfullerton.com

Good blog post on email Luigi.

Particularly noting the impersonal divide between Republicans and Democrats. I'd agree and would like to see that gap close sooner rather than later.

This was also a good point:

The March Madness tool is snazzy and works well, but I had no idea why I would want to actually fill my bracket out. I couldn't see the brackets of anyone else, save for McCain himself. I couldn't invite my friends to compete with me. Where's the fun in that? And why would the campaign not ask me to invite my friends to compete?

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David All
The David All Group
http://davidallgroup.com
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Ok I guess it did make the news and is generating comments, but I still say that even if it was a good idea there is more he could have done with it as Michael and another poster in the thread mentioned.

I'm all for candidates trying new and innovative things, regardless of what party they belong to, but I just think they ought to be a little better thought out. If the thinking is there but it fails, it is still an achievement in my book.

It probably doesn't help that I could care less about basketball too :)