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Candidates for the 2008 Presidential election have been vying for the attention of Internet users, with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney gaining the most.

Election Attention Goes To Romney, Obama

The run-up to the Presidential primaries involves a lot of fund-raising for US Presidential candidates. They do not want to leave any stone unturned, as money could be under one.

The Internet has been an area of interest from politicians ever since Howard Dean received millions in contributions through a largely grass-roots, online effort. Though he did not make it out of the primaries, Dean influenced the current crop of candidates for the White House.

Measurement firm Compete said in its assessment of who's receiving the most attention that the web has become an indispensable tool for the candidates to solicit funds and build their networks of support. Those candidates have received various levels of attention.

Republican candidate Romney has easily outpaced John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in the daily attention metric measured by Compete. "The spike in mid May coincides with his (Romney's) 'Sign Up America' drive that reportedly netted over 30,000 new supporters in 24 hours," Compete's Matt Pace wrote.

On the Democratic side, Obama has daily attention averaging 44 percent higher than Hillary Clinton, and double that of John Edwards. "Obama’s base-building efforts (reportedly over 110,000 people have contributed online to his campaign since the start of the year) are evident in his lead over rivals in attention," said Pace.

Once the primaries begin, the real competition between candidates will ratchet up considerably. Some candidates will likely exit before 2008, while Republican newcomer Fred Thompson's potential run may shake up the attention others receive online.