Campaigns race to define Paul Ryan online

If you search for “Paul Ryan” on Google, this is what appears at the top: a link from the Mitt Romney campaign calling Romney and Ryan “America’s Comeback Team” and encouraging you to donate to the campaign, and another from the Obama campaign that tells you to “Get the facts about the architect of the extreme GOP budget plan.”

The digital fight to define Paul Ryan is on. Both parties launched an online and mobile battle that mirrored the one in real life. For the Romney campaign, the Web has served as a way to raise unprecedented amounts of campaign cash off the VP rollout and a space to introduce voters to Ryan in a positive way. For President Barack Obama's campaign, it’s where they hope to influence those searching for more details about Ryan and tell them why he’s wrong for the country. “Whereas the Obama campaign used digital ads to effectively brand Paul Ryan, the Romney campaign was using digital ads to raise money and engage Republican voters,” said Vincent Harris, a GOP strategist who ran the digital operations for Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich.