Senators Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain all scored new all-time highs in Internet Market Share, according to the June 5, 2008 SIPP Index. However, the GOP is unable to cut into the Democrats’ greater than two to one market share, according to the Opposite Party Margin index. More important, Senator McCain is unable to gain any traction not only against the Democrats, but also against his remaining, but nominal GOP primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. Despite breaking above the 13% ceiling, now at 13.73% market share, McCain still trails Paul, who has a 20.11% market share. Obama, at 39.03% and Clinton at 21.81% each scored all time highs, due in large part anticipation on Clinton’s eventual departure from the Presidential stage. In the all important OPM, Obama still leads McCain 2.84 to 1.

The Trustees have not reported on the McCain-Paul comparisons to date, simply because McCain long ago obtained the necessary number of delegates to win the GOP nomination. However, now that Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee the fall campaign has already begun. Yet Paul’s lead over McCain is troublesome because it reflects that McCain still has not seized command of Internet politicking.

As Political.com’s Jeanne Cummings reported in GOP fears Obama’s money machine, (June 7, 2008)

the uniting of Hillary Clinton’s campaign with Barack Obama’s already phenomenal online fund-raising campaign “brings serious bad news to a new group: John McCain’s finance team,” made worse by Obama bringing on Clinton’s direct donor fund raising prowess.

Cummings noted that:

• If each of Obama’s donors gave him a modest $250, he’d have $375 million to spend during the two-month general election sprint. That’s $186 million a month, $47 million a week.

• During the same September to Nov. 4 period, McCain will have about $85 million to spend since he has decided to take taxpayer money to help finance his campaign activities.

• The Republican National Committee, which is charged with closing the gap between McCain and Obama, has $40 million in cash. Obama raised almost as much — $31 million — from just his small donors in the month of February. His total for the month, $57 million, exceeded the RNC’s cash balance.

• Obama has more than 1.5 million donors; McCain has a few hundred thousand. If just a million of Obama’s donors sent him the maximum donation, $2,300, he could raise $2.3 billion.

Even if Obama never reached his potential, both campaign finance experts and Democratic fundraisers say a conservative estimate of Obama’s general election fundraising potential hovers around or above $300 million. As Cummings observed: “Such a massive financial advantage will allow Obama to compete in more states than McCain and force his rival to defend states that should rightfully be Republican wins.”