I'll leave it to political scientists, political analysts, and psychologists to try to figure out why the Republican Party (GOP) is unable to use the internet to their advantage and I'll just point out one example of how the Democrats and Barack Obama are eating John McCain's lunch.

In the US Elections 2008 subsection on Digg right now, almost all of the popular and "hot" (upcoming) stories are anti-McCain, a couple are anti-GOP in general, and almost all the rest are pro-Obama. Not a single pro-McCain story makes either list. And, several are from the Huffington Post. The only one that doesn't fit that pattern and that saves it from being a complete rout is a mostly impartial joke posting from the lightweight site Gawker.

The titles of both sets are in the extended entry; note that the last "hot" story is the HuffPost entry described here.

Part of the reason why the GOP can't break into either list is partly because many of their leaders probably wouldn't even have a clue what this post is about. Part of the reason is lack of enthusiasm. Part is lack of organization. And, another issue might be that the Democrats are working the system in some way. Since Obama supporters frequently infest blog comments with a swarm of sockpuppets, it's not too difficult to imagine them using multiple Digg accounts to bump up some of those stories. No doubt a large number of the Diggs of those articles are legitimate and obtained through networking on Facebook or similar, but it's inconceivable that all of them are legitimate. And, some might even involve payments to those who supposedly do such sockpuppeting as a sideline.

** Here are the titles of the popular stories **

McCain On The Run: Cancels Press Availability
McCain Attacks Obama's Holocaust Museum Statement
Why McCain's Iraq "Surge" Success Story Is A Lie
Devastating New YouTube Video: John McCain's Neverending War watch!
John McCain's Never-Ending War In Iraq
McCain Gets History Of The Surge Wrong, CBS edits out gaffe
3,000 GIs Mob Barack in Baghdad (Video and Goodies)
McCain Makes False Claims On Iraq Timeline (VIDEO)
McCain Adviser Points to 2020 Iraq Withdrawal Date
McCain is Getting Desperate, As the World Embraces Obama
McCain Camp "Frustrated" With Obama's Trip
Sen. Ted Stevens Falling Down Series Of Tubes In Latest Poll
Obama Far More Popular Among Jews Than Lieberman
S.C. State Senator Posts Osama-Obama Photo On His Website
What Will Our President of Tomorrow Look Like in the Future? [joke story]

** Here's the "hot" list **

The Greatest Threat America Has Ever Faced: the GOP?
Seth Colter Walls: Wexler: McCain Attack On Obama's Holocaus
McCain cancels press avail in light of his Iraq deception
Laugh, clown, laugh [note: anti-McCain, anti-GOP editorial]
Seth Colter Walls: McCain Tries To Cover Surge Mistake With
Clueless McCain Suggests Rationing Vets Health Care
McCain Implies That Oil Prices are Psychological
John McCain says "F**K You!" during Interview
CBS Busted Violating its own Standards to Help McCain
Spreading Lies About Obama's Health Care Plan