Monster.com: Plug In and Vote, Part 1 of 2 (Dotcom feature)

Back before they got "wired," candidates connected with voters the good old-fashioned way: by attending rallies, appearing in TV ads, and with coverage from the media.

Now, that’s all changed.

Ever since Jesse Ventura used the Internet to help win his campaign in 1998, candidates have discovered that the Web is a powerful organizational tool for attracting and informing voters. In Ventura’s case, he and his staff used the Internet as a tool for mobilizing volunteers and voters. The campaign’s big closing event—a 72-hour drive through Minnesota—was organized and coordinated entirely by email and through the campaign’s Web site.

"The candidates have discovered the Internet as an organizational tool, above and beyond simple storefront Web sites," observes T.K Maloy, a long-time technology journalist and publisher of the Internet Newsroom (www.editors-service.com).

Recent surveys are confirming the effect of the Web on politics and choosing candidates: In December 1998, a survey of 1,200 voters by the Pew Charitable Trust found that three out of five respondents consider the Web a good place to learn about candidates. Not only can voters check out individual candidates on their Web sites (http://www.algore2000.com/ and http://www.georgewbush.com/), you can also find unbiased information by visiting non-partisan sites such as Politics.com, the Freedom Channel, www.freedomchannel.com, and Project Vote Smart, http://www.vote-smart.org/.

On Project Vote Smart’s site, for example, you’ll find voter registration information, presidential candidates’ public statements, and campaign finance data for all states. And these sites aren’t just static repositories of information; many have interactive polling features, as well as audio and video clips. The FreedomChannel.com offers on-demand access to videos reflecting the positions of political leaders, candidates and issue groups. The site was recently named the best general political site for 1999 by PoliticsOnline.com.

Note to Candidates: Surf’s Up

In addition to being a great PR vehicle, Web-savvy candidates are quickly realizing that the Web is a smart fundraising tool as well. Jill Balderas, Deputy Editor at Politics Daily (www.womenconnect.com/politicsdaily) -- a publication that is dedicated to covering women and politics—points to John McCain’s campaign (www.mcain2000.com) as an example. "An hour after he was declared the winner in the New Hampshire primary, $20,000 came over the Net in campaign donations," she says.

The Net is also the place to go if you want in-depth information on a candidate, rather than just a sound bite. "If you compare TV ads to the Net, most of the ads you see on TV are about candidates attacking each other. People who log onto the Net to learn about the candidate spend around 8.5 minutes on candidates’ sites, compared to a 30-second TV spot." McCain is a good example of someone who is using the Web to tell his story and attract voters. "On his site, he can tell his amazing story as far as being in the military and being a POW," notes Balderas.

Laura Dines, producer of the Democracy Project Online at PBS (www.pbs.org), which will launch in March, says that the goal of her site is "to educate, engage and inspire Americans on both a local and national level to become active participants in the democratic process." The site will feature a news ticker that links to the Washington Week in Review, the "Jim Lehrer News Hour," and other PBS shows.

"Lots of the sites do ad watches," says Dines, "but on our site we have plans to show how to be a critical viewer of ad campaigns. We will be looking at the overall use of media. We’re also doing a "run your own campaign" project on our site." Participants must answer questions [such as] "What would you do if you were to run for president?" and "How would you pick a campaign manager?" Then, they can virtually run for office.

If you find tracking the campaign as addictive as watching the stock market, you can get up-to-the-minute coverage by logging onto CSPAN.org and CNN http://cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/. Both sites cover late-breaking news on the presidential campaign. Want to find out how each of the candidates stands on tax reform or education? Then, you’ll want to visit Issues2000, http://www.issues2000.org/. While the site may not be very well designed, it’s very informative. The site claims to "provide non-partisan information for voters in the Presidential election, so that votes can be based on issues rather than on personalities and popularity."

Just one more thing: Log off and get out there and vote!