It’s only March 2007. You might think it's March 2008 by the pace of  the presidential race, and as much as the candidates dominate the TV news shows, the real evidence is on the internet.

Indeed, while the web has played some role in politics for a decade, this looks to be the election where much of the bedrock campaigning will take place online.

“From my perspective one thing that was very interesting is how early on and dedicated the candidates have become to the internet,” says Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics at Nielsen//NetRatings.

“Other elections they may have used it to some degree but from the level of commitment and investment, it is apparent that they see the internet this time as a main focal point of the communications process and marketing strategy.”

Candidates and potential candidates have been busy setting up sophisticated web sites and working to create awareness in every imaginable online forum, especially the social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The lesson that came out of the last election was just how swiftly news and rumors spread across the internet, and that's where they must be countered, before they hit the cable news networks.

So far, the Democrats are leading. The three most-visited presidential campaign sites in January were all for Democrats, according to new research from Nielsen//NetRatings. And if a vote were taken based on traffic, Sen. Hillary Clinton would be America's next president.

In January, HillaryClinton.com received 828,000 visits while Sen. Barack Obama's site drew 574,000. visitors. Next was North Carolina's John Edwards, who drew 464,000.

This is despite the fact that more Republicans are online, some 36.6 percent of U.S. adults versus 30.8 percent who are Democrats, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Independents account for 17.3 percent.

Why the Democrats' edge? Credit all the media coverage over Clinton's and Obama's campaign announcements, says Creekmore. Clinton launched her official campaign in a webcast on Jan. 20, and since then she has aired weekly Hillcasts online. Obama announced in February.

Among Republicans, John McCain is the clear leader, based on the 296,000 visitors that month to ExploreMcCain.com, the site set up by his election exploratory committee. The following month, McCain announced his candidacy.

But having a site is only a small part of online electioneering. The internet has become the place to rally the faithful, spread the word and build voter excitement, much in the way the old local party committee structure worked behind the scene well before campaigns officially began.
 
“They have started to use these arenas to speak to their support base in this race. Going into 2008, that is really the first time that we have seen that level of community involvement,” says Creekmore.  

Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended March 4, the top five parent companies were Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online for the fifth straight week. The top five brands were also the same for the third straight week, Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.

Experian Group Limited was the top advertiser with 10.12 million impressions generated, followed by No. 2 NexTag at 6.08 million, both well up over last week. With 24.63 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, more than tripling No. 2 MySpace at 6.65 million.

Sessions per person per week were up one from last week to 17, with domains visited per person also slightly up to 40. Average PC time per person per week was up more than 3 percent to 17 hours and 28 minutes.