Election 2008: Who’s Winning The Great Spam Race?

Some new numbers are in about the Obama-McCain matchup — and we’re not talking last night’s debate.

Research from Secure Computing shows spammers are using Barack Obama’s name seven times more than John McCain’s in the subject lines of their junk mail. The data analyzed spam sent during the month of September. It found a spike in McCain mail around the time of the Republican convention — which balanced the race out a bit — but Obama has maintained his spam lead, the firm says.

Our favorite quoted spam subject lines from the study:

• Jesus Endorses Obama; Four Horsemen Opt for McCain
• Obama Ahead Amongst Voters With Similarly Weird Names

When it comes to the VP candidates, not surprisingly, Sarah Palin trumps Joe Biden in the spam-off — but not by as large of a margin as you might think. The ratio falls out to five Palin e-mails for every four Biden. In an interesting contrast, during that month, the ratio of news stories about Palin to Biden came out to 7:1. Spammers, seemingly, were not swayed.