From the very fringes of the 2008 presidential campaign comes the SIPP Index, a weekly metric compiled by an Internet consulting firm that purports to measure each candidate’s share of the Web. It is taken to be an indicator of how well the candidates are reaching people across the Internet.

The Spartan Internet Political Performance (SIPP) Index is the first quantitative metric to measure the Internet-wide performance of each Presidential candidate for the 2008 election. The Index is comprised of over 650 quantitative factors measuring the level of support and how well each candidate is connecting with individuals across the Internet. The score for each candidate represents their overall Internet market share.

Among the myriad polls and measuring schemes that clog the info stream the SIPP ranks among the most esoteric. Reflecting as it does both the polls and the punditry, right now the SIPP doesn’t add much to the overall conversation about the campaign:

Spartan Internet Consulting has released the Political Performance Index results for the week of August 30 – September 5, with Hillary Clinton strengthening her second position ranking with 11.71 percent. The most notable gainers included Chris Dodd up 0.28 percent, John McCain up 0.30 percent and Fred Thompson up 0.22 percent.

Currently maintaining the top three positions are Barack Obama, 20.65 percent, Hillary Clinton, 11.71 percent and Ron Paul with 11.36 percent. The largest decliner this week was Rudy Giuliani, down 0.60 percent.

Perhaps the most significant SIPP finding is the vast gap between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Obama’s MySpace site rocks! Everyone says Ron Paul has a huge Internet following, and that’s pretty clear from his 11.36 percent ranking. His closest rival is Mitt Romney at 8.83 percent. The rest of the Republican field is in the 1-3 percent range, except for John McCain who has a respectable 5.63 share.

So what does it mean? Like most polls at this point of the campaign, probably not much. But if the race heats up and the Internet becomes a bigger factor in pushing opinion, the SIPP could become an interesting indicator.