Good online strategy is simple: reflect the very best of your candidate offline. John McCain offline is transparent, accessible, and willing to answer any question. John McCain online is stilted and awkwardly asking me for money. There’s a fundamental disconnect.

Patrick Ruffini is breaking out the digital champagne seeing trouble from e-mail for Republicans as Obama raises 1.8 Million in a new appeal to voters. Ruffini gives three e-mails sent from the campaign credit. Not to be a skeptic, but do we know this was all done with e-mail? It might have but we don't have enough information to say it definitively.

(I currently serve as an outside advisor to Friends of Fred Thompson. This post should not be construed as an official position of the campaign, however. These thoughts are mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Committee.)

I'm used to being criticized for all manner of atrocities allegedly committed by the GOP in furtherance of its goals, but this one has to be the strangest thing I have seen in a while.

But the campaigns of the Republican Presidential candidates have so far managed to write emails so indecipherable, or more likely, so poorly formatted, that the Google's AdWords system can't come up with any relevant ads for them. The right sidebar that usually holds half a dozen Google Ads is instead completely blank.

Yup, you heard that right. We're now being attacked because our e-mail actually prevents Google from spamming you with lame ads for cheesy t-shirts and stuff. We are somehow negligent because we prevent Google from making money off of you.

Hillary is praised because her e-mails are so good you can get your ads for Jack Bauer t-shirts, a shocking secret coffee companies don't want you to know, and an Obama bumper sticker. Mitt and Fred, however, are supposed to feel bad that their subscribers are denied such conveniences.

Wow! I thought I had seen a lot of odd charges leveled at me, but this one is truly bizarre.

I received a McCain e-mail at 9:14 with the following message:

Tonight, I will be appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. During this broadcast, I am going to announce that I will be a candidate for President of the United States. As one of my closest and most loyal supporters, I wanted you to see this announcement first on my website. I will make a formal announcement and embark on a tour in April.

This is an exciting announcement and I hope you will watch CBS tonight at 11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT.

Thank you for your support, your generosity, and your ongoing involvement in this campaign. We have a lot to look forward to and I promise you this campaign will make us all proud.

In yet another indication that the McCain folks need to find a new Internet guy, this e-mail was kind of a bonehead move. A message sent at 9pm announcing a TV appearance at 11pm is going to miss a lot of people. Even those on the left coast are leaving work by 6pm and probably missed the missive.

This is a message that should have been sent this morning to drum up media interest in the announcement, as well as supporter interest in watching. A staggering majority of the people on his list probably won't see this until tomorrow, and it will be too late to catch the event.

I'm worried about posting this because I do not want to violate the ground rules of the site regarding partisan politics. This really isn't, however, meant in that way.

Something about Hillary's latest e-mail struck me as really odd. The fundraising pitch from her husband includes a strange image.

Images in e-mail should clearly convey the message in the missive. In this case, I assume the photo is meant to convey a closeness between the former President and the potential future President. Unfortunately, the subliminal message it sent to me was that the former President overpowers and overshadows his wife.

This is not photo I would use in an e-mail for my candidate.