McCain: Obama did 'excellent job' of leveraging technology on campaign trail

President Barack Obama's savvy use of technology during the 2008 campaign helped pave the way to the White House, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) acknowledged during an interview with The Hill.

When asked what Obama did right on the campaign trail that he wished he had done, McCain said, "I think President Obama did many things right. I think one was that he's an incredibly articulate speaker, and motivational, and I think that was extremely helpful to him, not only in the general election but in his primary."

"The second thing I would give him credit for — and there are many things I would give him credit for — is the very excellent use of modern technology. I mean, people would text-message immediately. Everybody was connected by e-mail. They used Twitter. They used Facebook. They did a very excellent job of modern telecommunications," McCain said.

Asked if there are things he wishes he had done differently during the campaign, McCain said, "Books have been written, and they'll continue to be written. The one that wins runs a perfect campaign. The one that loses, 'Oh, it was a disaster.' It's always the same."

"But I have to give him credit for running an excellent campaign," he continued. "I'm not saying he wouldn't have won anyway, but they really ran an excellent campaign."