When I visited the Chicago headquarters of Barack Obama's nascent presidential campaign more than a year ago, his staff was just finding its footing. After all, it was only a week or two earlier that they'd moved from a small, cramped office on the 17th floor of 233 N. Michigan to a full 33,000-square-foot space six stories down. The sign for the press shop was a computer printout taped to a pillar; interviews were conducted in a spare closet. But it was clear even then that Team Obama had a pretty precise plan for the primaries in place. When I asked new media director Joe Rospars about Obama's official blog, for example, he gestured to a guy named Sam Graham-Felsen, a former Nation reporter, sitting in a nearby cluster of cubicles. As our online donations come in, said Rospars, Sam calls up the contributors at random and asks why they chose to give to Barack. Like, right away? Yep, he answered. They're usually pretty surprised. Then he posts their stories on the blog. Sometimes, they even make their way in Barack's speeches. The point: "to make sure that whatever we're doing in new media is totally integrated with whatever else is going on: politics, finance, field operations, communications." For Rospars, an official campaign blog wasn't an informal diary of some dude's views on the news of the day. What was the point of that? Instead, it was a tool for harvesting useful information from supporters--and shaping their perceptions of the race with a steady stream of positive press releases, videos and news articles.

I bring this up today because John McCain just launched his own* a new blog, the McCain Report--and the differences between the two sites say a lot about the character and, I think, electoral chances of the two campaigns. If there's one phrase to describe Obama's blog--and, in fact, his entire Internet operation--it's "a means to an end"; Obama may benefit from unprecedented online enthusiasm--four to eight million email addresses, 1.5 million donors, 800,000 registered users of my.barackobama.com, his social networking platform, and hundreds of commenters on every post--but his team's greatest innovation has been its relentless focus on converting that energy into favorable offline outcomes: registration drives, caucus turnout, et cetera. As a result, Obama's blog is about as interesting as a Club Med brochure. Take today and yesterday's posts, for example: photos of Obama and John and Elizabeth Edwards at an event this afternoon in Raleigh, N.C., coupled with excerpts of the candidate's speech; an "exclusive 'Lunch with Barack'"podcast; a news story about a Republican who is voting for Obama ("Men and women across the county come up to [Obama] and tell him, often in hushed voices, that even though they are Republicans, they are voting for him. And this November will be no different."); messages from "Obama supporters expressing their admiration for Senator Clinton [and] Clinton supporters declaring their support in the general election for Barack"; and a video of Obama speaking in Bristow, Va. Each of these items is presented without comment, analysis or voice, except for the occasional note that a "message of unity is spreading throughout the nation"--and a link to Obama's donation page. In keeping with Rospars' top-down pragmatism, it's an anodyne, corporate affair that might as well be produced by a bunch of robots.

The McCain Report, on the other hand, is actually readable. Written by new hire Michael Goldfarb (formerly a blogger at the Weekly Standard), the Report wouldn't seem out of place on any number of smart, substantive conservative websites; it just happens to be an official production. Since launching the blog on Friday, Goldfarb has advanced an interesting (if debatable) argument about how increased taxes won't lead to increased government revenue; characterized Obama's early opposition to the Iraq war as a matter of political convenience rather than bold leadership; and reminded readers that Obama wasn't always opposed to the Bear Stearns bailout. He's even tried a little--gasp!--humor. In an item titled "Take a Chance on McCain," Goldfarb informed "disaffected Hillary supporters" that "John McCain is a huge ABBA fan," then posted a vintage YouTube clip of the catchy Swedish quartet. "We're still working out a few kinks," he writes elsewhere. "A last-minute decision to ditch the lime-green background cost us some time." Needless to say, this is more self-mockery than the earnest Obama bloggers have mustered up in 17 months online.

The important thing here is that this human tone and human scale isn't limited to McCain's blog--it's reflected throughout the campaign. Obama's venue of choice? A 25,000-seat stadium. In contrast, McCain prefers the push and pull of a town-hall meeting--and has, in fact, challenged Obama to join him on stage. While a fixed, frictionless inner circle of aides runs Obama's massive, efficient organization like a successful private corporation, McCain is relying on a decentralized network of 11 "regional campaign managers" stationed in places like New Brunswick, N.J. and Royal Oak, Mich. to handle his affairs. Obama has 700 staffers blanketing nearly the entire nation; McCain employs only 250. Finally, McCain still invites reporters to cycle on and off his bus for face time and interviews, and top aide Mark Salter regularly responds to unfavorable reports with lengthy personal letters--unlike Obama, who interacts with the media only when necessary. "That's not how you win an election!" a McCain associate recently told Time. "McCain is about the only person left who thinks we ought to keep the bus going. Obama keeps the press at a distance. Why? Because he's trying to win!"

And that's precisely McCain's problem: while the Obama campaign is even bigger and savvier than George W. Bush's legendary presidential juggernauts, Team McCain is still stuck in its default mode: scrappy insurgent. Of course, the Arizona senator doesn't appear to have much of a choice. Obama can afford to launch a massive 50-state voter registration drive because he's raised about $300 million to date. McCain's receipts? About $118 million. Without Obama's resources, Team McCain has concluded that the only way to stay competitive is to stay lean and "human" and hope that the candidate's accessibility and charm earns him free coverage. But there's no doubt that Obama has--and will continue to have--sizable advantages in every area that matters: field organization, voter outreach, television spending, message control. Is this enough to win the election? We'll know in November. Until then, McCain underestimates the power of Obama's ruthlessly efficient operation at his own peril--even if his blog is more fun to read.

UPDATE: Just to clear up some confusion: Obama is light years ahead of McCain on the Internet, especially in terms of converting online energy into offline results. This item is talking about Obama's blog----not his web strategy or site as a whole--to make a point about the scale of his campaign as compared to McCain's. Obama's blog is sterile; McCain's is human. The former is highly strategic and goal-oriented; the latter, sort of improvised and messy and fun. As I wrote, I think that says a lot about where this race is going--and it's not where McCain wants.

*As reader Susanna Dyer notes, there's also a sterile, standard-issue blog on the McCain website that's been there for awhile. " If both blogs continue to exist," she asks, "does that modify your characterization of McCain's blogging efforts?" I'd say no. The decision to hire Goldfarb and task him with creating an interesting site is still symbolic of McCain's scrappier, more "human" posture. And until Team Obama hires, say, Ezra Klein, I'm going to assume that their blogging priorities are elsewhere...