Politics.com relaunches to grab U.S. Presidential election traffic
By Dave Parrack
The 2008 American Presidential election is big news. I know that’s stating the obvious but this election goes way beyond any I have experienced. Being British and living in the UK means I can report that most U.S. elections go by without much coverage in this country.
Sure, when George W. Bush got elected the first time, most of us over here wondered how an ape got put in the White House. And sure, when he then got in again, we wondered simply how? But this is different. Whether it’s because of the chance to watch history in the making, if Obama gets in, or just because the two sides are diametrically opposed on so many issues, everyone is talking about the election, and everyone has an opinion.
And where do people turn to voice their opinion? The Internet of course. Which is why there are a diverse range of websites wholly devoted to politics, the election, Barack Obama, etc. And now we can add another one to the mix: Politics.com.
The domain name has been in existence for many years, being one of those keyword-heavy domains bought up at the emergence of the Web. But it’s changed hands many times, and is currently being used to host a site devoted to political news and views. But with just 11 days left to the election, is this a bit late in the game?
The new Politics.com, discovered by TechCrunch, is actually really well done. It’s a good looking site offering a kind of mix between The Huffington Post and Digg, with political news stories, blog posts, and videos aggregated on the front page for people to read, watch, and comment on.
But you have to wonder why it’s taken so long for the site to appear in this particular form. The build-up to this election has been going on for months now, even before the candidates were whittled down to just two. If the site had emerged around that time, it could have built a following and a buzz meaning it would now be populated by millions of regulars.
As it is, it looks like just being a domain play, with the owners, who probably paid way over the odds for the .com, knowing they needed to get something, anything, on the Internet before polling day to be in with a chance of grabbing some of that abundance of Web traffic wanting to find news and give their opinions on the election.
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on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
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October 24th, 2008
I have to ask why Blorge allows an ape to write for them? Um, Dave, you may not like him but honestly nobody cares about your (foreigner) politcal opinions. Write to a politics blog back home.
October 25th, 2008
I take offence at that comment DavidB. Us apes should be allowed to write whereever we damn well please!
October 25th, 2008
“Sure, when George W. Bush got elected the first time, most of us over here wondered how an ape got put in the White House.”
Nice. Very professional. Maybe you should be blogging for the Daily Kos.
October 25th, 2008
Parrack, as always, oversteps the line, offending apes everywhere. But given that the US has the largest arsenal of advanced nuclear weopons, I think the rest of the world, rightly, has an interest in who’s finger hovers over the red button.
October 25th, 2008
I’m starting to think Dave is a communist.