Well the race to the White House has truly begun with frontrunners from each party announcing their exploratory committees, a crucial first step in announcing proposed candidacy and allowing a candidate to collect contributions. Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton are both “in” officially, as you can see by their gleaming new websites www.exploremccain.com and www.hillaryclinton.com.

Now without getting too into the marketing messages, such as how interesting it is that Senator McCain has branded himself as “McCAIN” in a site that is completely black & white while Senator Clinton branded herself as “Hillary” in a site reminiscent of an inviting home, I would like to look at the interactive marketing tactics their teams are using.

So let’s look at Senator McCain’s site. Senator McCain’s site begins in a very simple postcard style with a dominant image that rotates upon refreshing or reentry into the site. There is no left or right navigation, just “calls to action” along the bottom and right of the image. Users are prompted to “Donate,” “Join Our Team,” “Take Action” and learn “About John McCain,” and are given the ability to read and watch an assortment of speeches. Choosing any of these options brings the user into the microsite with the same options now located in tabs (which are actually simply horizontal navigation styled as tabs). A few features of note are the email marketing and e-commerce on the site.

The site allows you to sign up for email, make donations from the site, and even establish a profile as a “team member” (with login) thus creating a user’s version of the site to share with friends and family. Mine will be at www.patrickm.exploremccain.com once it’s reviewed and approved. Senator McCain hits all the high points of a campaign site, with a page discussing his story, the abilities to get emails and be a team member, and a place pass on some cash to help support the race. I’m not politically savvy enough to comment on McCain’s base, but I’d venture to guess the needs of many potential voters would be satiated by the offerings.

Now let’s look at Senator Clinton’s site. Senator Clinton does not have a microsite by any stretch of the word. It’s a fully functioning machine. As an interactive marketer, I can say that Senator Clinton’s team has gulped down the kool-aid. The site is chock-full of interactive goodies including a video message, upcoming webcasts, a blog, email marketing (that look as if they will be geo-coded, altered based on the users location/zip code, to be more relevant to the user), user profiles (including narrowing what issues are important to the user…which could lead to even more user-specific emails), an event planner and search, a customizable “send to a friend” email tool, a send a “message of support” tool, a video library, a 5 page “About Hillary” section with video clips from supporters, a newsroom, and of course a section to “Contribute”. I mean wow. That’s a lot of functionality and yet is surprisingly easy to navigate.

In the video introduction, Senator Clinton says “with a little help from modern technology” she’ll “start a conversation with America”. I’d say that it is a definite possibility. The site takes a “web 2.0” approach in a possible effort to draw in the user s that will use the medium as their key source of information. Again I fall back on not being politically savvy enough to make great base-related commentary, but I will say that I think Senator Clinton has used the medium very effectively in the onset of her campaign.

So there you have it, two different styles for two different user groups. I see both as having potential to be effective. However, in the end, a well-played e-race won’t win anything. Like a great email for a bad product, the real proof will be in the pudding.