Meet the New Joe2006.com

07:00 PM Sep 05, 2006

Buckling up his kit with what one imagines is all the self-assurance of a Roman frontier governor invited to parley with Attila, former Democratic Senatorial candidate Joseph I. Lieberman rolls out a campaign blog today as part of the long-awaited redeployment of the beleaguered Joe2006.com site.

As befits a Lieberman web site, naturally, the thing was down altogether for nigh two hours during the switchover, which was widely expected throughout the day but only just went live moments ago.

Talk about a man with a tortured relationship with technology.

Plenty of pols are asea when it comes to computers and much as one might question the real impact of it all, most can read the dollar signs if nothing else.

But it seems sometimes as if the peculiar obdurance of the Lieberman campaign extends to disdaining use of the effective tools of its opponents -- as if the French after Agincourt had revenged themselves by unstringing every bow in the realm.

How bizarre to behold a race defined by the reach of new communications channels find its [penultimate] climax on primary day with the Lieberman team's painfully clueless handling of its collapsed web site. For days after, the site was not restored but hosted only a plaintive -- and decreasingly plausible -- accusation of digital dirty trickery.

How much does that say, that this is what the campaign viewed as the best possible use of its web presence? Even in the face of actual hacks, web sites can be re-erected in a couple of hours.

So one can excuse the suspicion that the campaign's not exactly bringing a "we get it" 'tude to the blog. Up until today's big foray (and Joe, here's a freebie: one effective if ethically questionable way to build an audience is to pick fight with a popular blogger, like Ahmadinejad) -- a full month after the primary -- Joe2006.com's content has only barely exceeded that white screen. It's had grade-school-simple links to volunteer and donate money, and the campaign's thematically questionable "setting sun" ad. There's been literally nothing to navigate after the home page.

I haven't made a complete survey, but it's hard to imagine any other serious contender for the United States Senate doing so little for so long with this real estate.

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