I tend to assume everybody's a Huckwatcher these days, but in case you've missed it, his web traffic has been tied with Clinton's for almost a week now; only Ron Paul has (much) higher traffic. His Meetup numbers have tripled since they started (sort of) pushing it, and the Club for Growth has been attacking, sending out clips of him saying nice things about taxes on Youtube.

I think one of the reasons for Huckabee's high web traffic is exemplified in the way they use video on the site. A high portion of the videos shared on the blog are supporter-created mashups, often mixing popular music with clips and screen shots with quotes. And videos are shared not in a separate section, but as part of the blog commentary. So when you see a video, you have a sense of curiosity--what did this supporter make?--instead of the ad-dread that comes with videos on the Stepford sites. Here are some examples:

I Heart Huckabee

Not Negotiable

A Good Name

Here's my take: Hillary, Ron Paul, and Huckabee have very different reasons for high traffic. Ron Paul's online campaign is truly supporter driven, massive, deeply decentralized, and separately fascinating. Sui generis. We know Huckabee can't have the same kind of numbers, or his fundraising would reflect it. Hillary presumably gets the most visits because she is the most oft-mentioned candidate. Huckabee, I would argue, gets so many visits because his site is simply the most interesting, it has the most small-c character. And so my guess is that many of the Huckabee site visits are return visits. Obama's site--which you would think would consistently have higher traffic than's Huckabee's, given his supporters numbers and passion--has some character, but it tends towards Stepfordness, and Edwards' site is simply too confusing for a daily quick visit (although his numbers are growing). On Huckabee's site, I'm walking into a small room with 8 people--on Edwards site I'm walking into a loud, noisy restaurant, and I know its going to take alot of work to plow through.

Some sites seem to revel in superfluous Stepfordness. A flash entrance asking you to "Join the campaign," or "Join the Movement" is like going to a potluck and being greeted at the door by a woman wearing pearls and not a hair out of place. Those sites end up having a lot of work to do if they want to convince you to sit down and share your macaroni.

Point of clarification: Someone wrote me a note the other day; she said that she was surprised I am such a Huckabee supporter. I am not. For what its worth, I am an Obama supporter. My interest in Huckabee's online/offline campaign should not be confused with support. It is partly driven by tone, and partly because I happen to think he's likely to win the nomination.