Erin had a little free time today so we decided to build on our campaign study and do some quick research to see which US Senate candidates had the most popular websites. Please note that the site rank and reach per million data included in the table below is taken from Alexa. We included the blog column based on our own research.
Note that many people consider Alexa data to be extremely flawed. So take our findings as anecdotes. No one should write their PHD dissertation based on what you see here.
Before listing the data, here are some observations about the findings:
(1) The sites of CT candidates Ned Lamont and Senator Joe Lieberman are #1 and #2 in traffic due to the intense amount of interest their primary battle attracted both in the blogosphere and in the mainstream press. Their sites are well ahead of those of any other candidates.
(2) 13 of the top 20 (65%) sites that attracted the most traffic were run by Democrats. Six (30%) belonged to Republican candidates and one (5%) was run by an Independent (Lieberman).
(3) The least popular sites were equally split among the parties. Ten of the sites belong to Republican and ten belong to Democrats.
(4) 14 of the 20 (70%) most popular sites included blogs. Only six of the 20 (30%) least popular sites had blogs. While factors like how competitive a race is and the size of the state undoubtedly play a big role in traffic figures, I think it is pretty clear that blogs do play a role in driving traffic.
Following are the results:
| Candidate Name | Party | Site Rank | Reach per million | Blog? |
| Lamont, Ned | D-CT | 69,223 | 27 | Yes |
| Lieberman, Joe | I-CT | 106,399 | 19 | Yes |
| Webb, Jim | D-VA | 252,000 | 5.3 | Yes |
| Clinton, Hillary | D-NY | 259,810 | 4.05 | No |
| Allen, George | R-VA | 318,516 | 4.15 | Yes |
| Harris, Katherine | R-FL | 333,619 | 3.65 | No |
| Casey, Bob | D-PA | 338,532 | 3.55 | Yes |
| Santorum, Rick | R-PA | 373,240 | 2.85 | Yes |
| Kennedy, Ted | D-MA | 384,977 | 3.3 | Yes |
| McCaskill, Claire | D-MO | 451,708 | 2.75 | Yes |
| Tester, Jon | D-MT | 476,381 | 2.15 | Yes |
| Ashdown, Pete | D-UT | 476,452 | 2.05 | Yes |
| Klobuchar, Amy | D-MN | 498,905 | 1.85 | No |
| Cantwell, Maria | D-WA | 517,918 | 1.9 | Yes |
| Brown, Sherrod | D-OH | 539,171 | 1.8 | Yes |
| McGavick, Mike | R-WA | 562,788 | 1.5 | Yes |
| Corker, Bob | R-TN | 584,685 | 1.55 | No |
| Ford, Harold Jr. | D-TN | 609,777 | 2 | No |
| Carter, Jack | D-NV | 642,398 | 1.1 | Yes |
| Burns, Conrad | R-MT | 828,534 | 0.8 | No |
| Bouchard, Mike | R-MI | 991,558 | 0.75 | Yes |
| Tarrant, Rich | R-VT | 997,650 | 0.55 | Yes |
| Nelson, Bill | D-FL | 1,008,100 | 0.6 | No |
| Dewine, Mike | R-OH | 1,030,216 | 0.7 | No |
| Pederson, Jim | D-AZ | 1,061,624 | 0.5 | No |
| Raese, Jim | R-WV | 1,088,769 | 0.4 | No |
| Kean, Tom | R-NJ | 1,158,875 | 0.45 | Yes |
| Kennedy, Mark | R-MN | 1,158,875 | 0.45 | Yes |
| Hay Bright, Jean | D-ME | 1,229,651 | 0.35 | Yes |
| Chafee, Lincoln | R-RI | 1,272,159 | 0.45 | No |
| Talent, Jim | R-MO | 1,370,825 | 0.5 | No |
| Radnofsky, Barbara Ann | D-TX |  1,425,639 |
0.3 | Yes |
| Kyl, Jon | R-AZ | 1,433,237 | 0.45 | No |
| Stabenow, Debbie | D-MI | 1,459,546 | 0.45 | Yes |
| Whitehouse, Sheldon | D-RI | 1,663,920 | 0.25 | Yes |
| Mountjoy, Dick | R-CA | 1,727,518 | 0.25 | No |
| Ricketts, Pete | R-NE | 1,870,334 | 0.25 | No |
| Spencer, John | R-NY | 1,919,976 | 0.35 | Yes |
| Byrd, Robert | D-WV | 1,989,144 | 0.2 | No |
| Fleming, Erik | D-MS | 2,098,929 | 0.15 | No |
| Ensign, John | R-NV | 2,156,985 | 0.2 | Yes |
| Steele, Michael | R-MD | 2,776,888 | 0.2 | Yes |
| Groutage, Dale | D-WY | 2,872,933 | 0.1 | No |
| Hatch, Orrin | R-UT | 4,203,588 | 0.1 | Yes |
| Ting, Jan | R-DE | 4,931,853 | 0.05 | No |
| Nelson, Ben | D-NE | 5,608,587 | 0.05 | No |
| Kohl, Herb | D-WI | 5,618,551 | 0.1 | No |
| Conrad, Kent | D-ND | 5,621,699 | 0.05 | No |
| Carper, Thomas | D-DE | 5,877,096 | 0.045 | No |
| Menendez, Bob | D-NJ | 6,152,317 | 0.045 | Yes |
| Hutchinson, Kay Bailey | R-TX | 6,530,867 | N/A | No |
| Grotberg, Dwight | R-ND | 6,050,491 | 0.045 | No |
| Akaka, Daniel | R-HI | N/A | N/A | No |
| Bingaman, Jeff | D-NM | N/A | N/A | No |
| Chase, Ken | R-MA | N/A | N/A | No |
| Feinstein, Diane | D-CA | N/A | N/A | No |
| Lugar, Dick | R-IN | N/A | N/A | No |
| McCulloch, Allen | R-NM | N/A | N/A | Yes |
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