The AOL Ad Desk debuted in beta last April as part of its plans to revitalize the branding of Advertising.com, the company’s flagship ad network. Ad Desk was intended as a virtual on ramp for ad agencies and marketers to manage the placement of their display ad campaigns.

SEE ALSO: AOL’s Self-Serve ‘Ad Desk’ To Be Focal Point For Display Efforts

In an interview with paidContent, Jeff Levick, AOL Advertising’s global head, said that the AOL Advertising Politics hub will make it easy for political candidates and advocacy groups to use display for fundraising, build name recognition, field organizing, persuade voters, respond to attacks, and get out the vote.

While search has played a major role in the ‘08 campaigns, display’s resurgence this year is likely to make it more attractive to political organizations. In the past, campaigns relied mostly on search instead of display. Since most political sites tended to be ideologically disposed, it seemed unnecessary to preach to the converted—or preach to the ones who didn’t want to be reached.

Levick said that wouldn’t be AOL’s problem, especially since Advertising.com reaches over 90 percent of the total online audience in the U.S.

“It’s natural for political campaigns to look to search, but for the most part, search involves something that people are already looking for,” Levick said. “But with our display system, you can target both a broader audience and a more narrow one.”

The politics hub will also take advantage of other parts of AOL, including hyperlocal network Patch, Mapquest, and Politics Daily, which the company rolled out on the content side last April.

Meanwhile, the “ad hub” idea would seem to lend itself to other verticals, such as technology, sports or women’s lifestyle. Levick wouldn’t say if there were plans to do create additional hubs around topic areas, but they’re clearly thinking about it. “There’s something special about political advertising,” he said. “It’s opened up our eyes to some of the possibilities of organizing display sales. Every category trying to do something different. Politics is our first step into that area.”