Don’t be fooled – I’m not a political columnist. But having been subjected to the requisite barrage of political ads that an election year offers, I thought it fair game to judge our presidential candidates from a technological point of view.

(Hang with me here.)

I’m not all that interested in which nominee thinks he can grow jobs in the high-tech sector or which will be the first to outfit the Oval Office with Bluetooth. (Though it’ll probably be Dubya. By several accounts, Mr. Kerry is still wearing out legal pads while Mr. Bush is a laptop guy.) I’m far more comfortable approaching this election from a more familiar perspective: the candidates’ official web sites.

Though it took them awhile to catch on, the political parties now understand as well as any Fortune 500 company the value of a good web page in terms of raising money and getting their message out. As a result, the parties have continually re-vamped their sites to keep pace with each other. All this high-tech one-upmanship took a giant leap forward last year when Howard Dean showed everyone how it’s really done by using his web site to raise more than $4 million in 90 days, including $800,000 in a single 24-hour period. And he didn’t even have to let off a war hoop to do it.

With apologies to Ralph Nader (whose web page doesn’t even mention that he happens to be running for the world’s most powerful political office), I’ve focused on the two guys who actually have a chance to win in November.

The Challenger (www.johnkerry.com)
First impression: nice page, but where’s the headline? At the top of this page is a large Kerry-Edwards banner, but there’s no lead article that spells out why I should vote for the candidate. This is a glaring omission. If I was John Kerry and really believed that I should be president, I’d use my web page to compare my position on each major issue side-by-side with my opponent’s. As it stands, this information is buried in the left-panel menu that no one ever uses. (Though, to be fair, on the right-side of the page is a link to an article that explains why under no circumstances should you ever vote for George Bush.)

The page is a patriotic red, white, and five different shades of blue, if you include Mr. Kerry’s light-blue shirt. Interestingly, the page contains no movement. No Java or ASP. Not even an animated GIF. It’s just a stoic page. If you’re interested in giving money to the Kerry campaign, you can do so from any of five different links. The Kerry page always uses the word “contribute” while the Bush site prefers “donate.” I’ve never given money to a political campaign, but if I did, I think I’d rather contribute than donate.

Curiosity: The single largest link on the page is the “Remarkable Promise” video, so I clicked it expecting a 30- or 60-second commercial. Instead, it was the story of Kerry’s life and it lasted almost ten minutes. (Yes, I skipped ahead.)
Final impression: Tastefully designed, but it’s not humanly possible to read through the page without yawning.

The President (www.georgebush.com)
First impression: Eye-catching, but too many links.
At first glance, this page isn’t bad. Without getting too arty on you, the Bush-Cheney page directs your eye from the upper left to the lower right like it’s supposed to. But I was frustrated by the fact that the page contains 92 different links. That’s not a misprint. Ninety-two links on a single page – that’s about 33 percent more than the Kerry-Edwards page. With just a little copyediting and design changes, that number could be cut in half.

For all the mud that’s slung between the candidates on the nightly news, the Bush page is surprisingly positive, even touting a slogan I’d never heard — Heart and Soul: Moving America Forward. (Though, to be fair, on the right-side of the page is a link to an article that explains why under no circumstances should you ever vote for John Kerry.)

In a shameless attempt to keep up with the latest web trends, both the Bush and Kerry sites offer blogs so the reader/voter can keep up with the candidates on the campaign trail. Having read through both candidate’s blogs, I’ve decided to make my own offer. If either Bush or Kerry has the first clue as to what a blog is, I’ll nail his sign to the tree in my front yard until the election.

Curiosity: The suggested reading list contains Kerry’s book “The New War.”
Final impression: Tries really hard to make a good impression, but comes across as too busy.

If you’re having trouble deciding who to cast your vote for this November, just forget about the candidates and vote for the web page that you think would best represent this great country of ours.

My name is Ken Circeo, and I approved this column.