John McCain is notoriosuly averse to technology; his opponent is often seen on his BlackBerry. McCain's tech deficit poses problem

John McCain’s low comfort level with the Internet, a technology familiar to 73 percent of American adults, poses a political problem for his campaign and exacerbates mostly unspoken concerns about his age. It also contains an element of irony: In 2000, he was buoyed by pioneering online fundraising efforts.

“The whole thing is flabbergasting to me,” said Joe Trippi, the Democratic consultant who served as the campaign manager for the 2004 Howard Dean campaign that was the first to become wildly successful at raising money and support online.


“McCain’s 2000 campaign was so tech-savvy that it scared me. It was the whole reason I started focusing on the tech stuff for the Democrats,” Trippi said.

Now, though, McCain is battling the impression that he’s an Internet “illiterate.” When Politico’s Mike Allen asked him in January whether he uses a Mac or PC, the candidate replied, “I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance that I can get.” Since, he’s taken to Macs, become a student of the contemporary, blog-driven media cycle, and become a reader — if not yet a writer — of e-mail.

In interviews with Politico, techies offered a range of solutions to turn around the image of the tech-challenged Republican, and implored him to stop talking about computers, and start showing that he uses them.

Some suggested that McCain pick up some gadgetry. A flashy wireless earpiece might remind voters of the gear he wore as a fighter pilot, joked Soren Dayton, a Republican consultant who left McCain’s campaign after an impolitic posting to his own Twitter account.

David All, a tech-centric Republican consultant, had another suggestion.

“If I were counseling John McCain, I would have him standing in line for an iPhone,” he said.

“I would make sure the next time John McCain is around a group of photographers, he’s on his iPhone and he’s checking out Meghan’s blog,” he said, referring to McCain’s daughter’s online diary of the campaign trail.

All of the techies suggested that McCain open his own Twitter account and post short messages directly to the Internet.

“I wouldn’t let any staff anywhere near it,” he said.

“For the love of G-d, don't let him be photographed using the web as if it's something to photograph him doing,” e-mailed a Republican consultant and blogger, Karol Sheinin. “It will just remind everyone of that time they taught their grandpa about e-mail.”

“He has to stop talking about it,” said Josh Levy, the managing editor of the social networking site Change.org. “He should just drop it into conversation, say, ‘Yeah, I only use Firefox.’”

McCain’s progress, so far, has been slow, and delivered in language that suggests he’s not ready to name-drop a popular open-source browser just yet.



In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, he explained that “I am forcing myself. ... Let me put it this way, I am using the computer more and more every day.”

“I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself,” he told The New York Times in July.

“I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need.”

His efforts have won him brutal derision from the online left.

“McCain Makes Historic First Visit to Internet,” Obama-backing satirist Andy Borowitz headlined one imagined dispatch.

“Sen. McCain said that he had embarked on his visit to the Internet to allay any fears that he is too out-of-touch to be president, adding that he plans to take additional steps to demonstrate that he is comfortable with today's technology: ‘In the days and weeks ahead, you will be seeing me rock out with my new Walkman,’” Borowitz wrote.

Others have been less gentle.

After a spokesperson told The Associated Press that McCain is “fully capable of browsing the Internet and checking Web sites,” a front-page diarist on DailyKos sneered: “I hope someone gave him a cookie.”

McCain’s defenders say his years of work on communications legislation have made him a master of the big ideas, if not the actual usage, of communications technology

He’s demonstrated a cultural affinity with one aspect of online campaigning: Bloggers are welcome on his conference calls, and have common ground with his combative, free-wheeling style. He’s hired a blogger of his own, Michael Goldfarb.

“Who's Web-Savvy Now?” asked a recent headline on McCain’s blog, after poking fun at the Obama campaign for editing the Iraq policy on its site.

Some say he’s just as well off without the contemporary trappings.

“The guy is pretty busy,” said Dayton. “The last thing he needs is a BlackBerry.”