What is PeekScore?: PeekScore is a rank from 1 to 10, assigned to every person. The higher someone’s score, the “more important” they are on the web. In calculating your PeekScore and updating it often, PeekYou takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news.

Here is our third installment in this ongoing series, observing and measuring the evolution of the online aspect of the race for the 2012 GOP nomination (you can view parts 1 and 2 here and here). Even though the first GOP primaries still remain quite a while off, by now Republican candidates – possible, presumed, and announced alike – have really started to make themselves known. Major debates have already taken place, and real campaigning is underway in earnest.

Since our second update, the changes in PeekScores have not for the most part been statistically dramatic. Many candidates’ scores have moved up or down, and some chart positions have been swapped, but the changes have been mostly mathematically small. Even the somewhat newsworthy seeming development of Sarah Palin now topping our list is only due to a statistically slight change in her and The Donald’s respective scores (and by the next time we recalculate, they could very well switch back again). And besides that, for the second update in a row now, Sarah Palin remains the top ranked viable candidate; which to many is of the greatest interest anyhow.

By far the story of this update is 100% consistent with the mainstream media’s perception of the current Republican race’s big story, and that’s the quite noteworthy increase in score (and corresponding ascent up the chart) of Minnesota’s Michele Bachmann. Bachmann’s public profile has been amplified dramatically – and her candidacy is being taken more seriously – since a well-received showing at CNN’s June 12 debate in New Hampshire. While it’s not necessarily telling us much we didn’t know about Ms. Bachmann’s profile in general, it is confirming that her growth in being recognized out in the flesh and blood realm is corresponding with a noticeable increase in impact here in cyberspace.

We’ve added no candidates to the list this time around, but as we hope to over these months capture the race in its full breadth and evolution (which is why candidates who have dropped out of the race are remaining on the chart, only with their inactive status indicated), we ask you to please let us know in the comments of anyone we’ve overlooked. And please keep checking in regularly to see how things develop. (And please scroll down to the bottom for a couple of quick disclaimers.)

Rank	Picture	Name	PeekScore as of Last Update	Current PeekScore
1		Sarah Palin	10.00 / 10	10.00 / 10
2		Donald Trump (dropped out)	10.00 / 10	10.00 / 10
3		Ron Paul	10.00 / 10	10.00 / 10
4		Paul Ryan	10.00 / 10.00	9.95 / 10
5		Newt Gingrich	9.92 / 10	9.81 / 10
6		Michele Bachmann	8.35 / 10	9.32 / 10
7		Tim Pawlenty	9.15 / 10	9.16 / 10
8		Mitch Daniels (dropped out)	9.23 / 10	9.15 / 10
9		Mike Huckabee (dropped out)	9.07 / 10	9.03 / 10
10		Herman Cain	9.01 / 10	9.03 / 10
11		Mitt Romney	9.00 / 10	9.01 / 10
12		Scott Brown	8.23 / 10	8.23 / 10
13		Rick Perry	8.14 / 10	8.15 / 10
14		Rudy Giuliani	8.10 / 10	8.10 / 10
15		Rick Santorum	8.09 / 10	8.09 / 10
16		Lindsey Graham	8.06 / 10	8.04 / 10
17		Gary Johnson	8.02 / 10	8.02 / 10
18		Thad McCotter	8.00 / 10	8.01 / 10
19		Jon Huntsman	7.58 / 10	7.60 / 10
20		John Bolton	7.37 / 10	7.40 / 10
21		Buddy Roemer	7.23 / 10	7.23 / 10
22		Jimmy McMillan	7.07 / 10	7.08 / 10
23		Fred Karger	6.73 / 10	6.73 / 10
24		Roy Moore	6.40 / 10	6.40 / 10
25		Andy Martin	6.29 / 10	6.29 / 10
26		Vern Wuensche	6.19 / 10	6.19 / 10

Two Quick Disclaimers: 1) As is probably the case in most workplaces throughout the country, the political inclinations of the PeekYou staff run the gamut. These rankings are entirely objective and impartial. 2) In compiling this list, PeekYou is not trying to suggest that a measurement of a candidate’s online presence or impact is any indication of the likelihood of him or her winning an election. If it were the case that we believed such a thing, you could then extrapolate that we believe Lady Gaga (whose PeekScore is unsurprisingly immense) has a better chance of becoming president than Mitt Romney. We’re intelligent people and don’t mean to imply any such thing. This list – as with most PeekScore lists – is as much intended as a commentary on the ever-expanding importance of social media specifically, and the internet in general, as it is an analysis of the candidates or the overall successes (or failures) of their various campaigns.