Last night, the McCain web team launched a graphic redesign of their campaign website (feature set looks more or less the same). I like the new look a lot and think it is a real improvement over the well done second iteration and depressing first version.  This is a very nice looking website.

While I appreciate the professionalism of the design, I can’t help but think that the way McCain’s site looks is sort of beside the point at this juncture in the game.  From the blog that isn’t really a blog to the phony social network to the poorly conceived blast emails, McCain’s biggest problem online is a top-down strategy that has made McCain distant presence on his own site. 

Patrick Ruffini summed things up pretty well in a post on TechPresident last week:

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.

I don’t think slapping a new coat of paint on their existing strategy is going to fix that problem.

What do you think of the new site?