CNN Democratic Debate: Shameless Free Advertising

With Senator Obama's campaign announcing it raised over $30 million in January alone and the all-important super Tuesday primaries looming, Senator Obama is well positioned to make a substantial media buy. It is essential that Senator Clinton counter and get her message out as much as possible for as little as possible.

I have always wondered why presidential candidates do not plug their websites more or advertise their events subtly and creatively during national debates. A website is a free and effective way of disseminating incredible amounts of information quickly (ok...so a website is not entirely free, but you get the point). It is another touch-point between the candidate and the voter. I was happy to see Senator Clinton take advantage of a large national audience tonight and offer a plug of her website and an upcoming campaign event. With millions of individuals watching, I can only imagine what making this announcement via paid-ads would have cost?

We congratulate Senator Clinton on taking this opportunity to expand her persuasive influence by drawing in target voters. Only one piece of advice: be a little more professional about shamelessly promoting your website on a nationally televised debate. Wolf Blitzer rightly chastised Senator Clinton.

(Note: Quotes below from the official CNN transcript, which is available here.)

"[CLINTON:] We will go into the November election prepared to win. And -- and I want to just add that, you know, on Monday night, I'm going to have a national town hall, an interactive town hall. It will be carried on the Hallmark Channel and on my Web site, HillaryClinton.com, because I know you had tens of thousands of questions."

Realizing what had just happened, Obama quickly added:

"OBAMA: What about my Web site?"

However, Obama never mentioned his website, which he should have. Clinton, determined the publicize this event even more, chimed in one more time.

"CLINTON: And it's going to be across the country. Monday night at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 here on the West Coast."

After pushing her shameless promotion far over the line, moderator Wolf Blitzer stopped things:

"BLITZER: All right. answered, please, log on, turn on, and continue to be part of this really, really exciting election for both of us. Here is the bottom line -- we do the plugs here. You guys can do the plugs out on the campaign trail."