WASHINGTON (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Ron Paul were selected by members of the online MySpace community as their parties' 2008 presidential candidates, the site announced Thursday.
With the Iowa caucuses looming later in the day, MySpace's count of more than 150,000 virtual votes January 1-2 showed Obama on top with 46 percent of the vote, trailed by Hillary Clinton (31 percent) and John Edwards (eight percent).
MySpace, which dubbed its own exercise "the Nation's First Presidential Primary," said Republicans picked Ron Paul with 37 percent of ballots, followed by Rudy Giuliani (18 percent) and Mike Huckabee (16 percent).
Respondents said the economy/jobs, war in Iraq and health care were their top concerns, the poll said.
Iowa voters will weigh in Thursday on the longest, most gruelling White House race in history, as top hopefuls look to the too-close-to-call caucuses there to provide momentum toward a national-level party nomination.
Americans vote November 4 for a new president to follow eight years of George W. Bush's Republican administration. After two consecutive terms, he is not eligible to stand for reelection.
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