Web puts a whole new spin on campaign culture

By WANDA JENIFER
Observer Staff

Will YouTube, MySpace and Facebook help us elect the next president of the United States?

American University’s School of Communication held an American Forum on Wednesday to look at the impact of the Internet on the 2008 campaign.

Observer photo by KEN CHAMBERLAIN
Jane Hall, American University journalism professor

The Internet helps presidential candidates reach people across the country effectively and almost instantly. Candidates use social-networking tools like MySpace and Facebook and their own campaign Web sites to build relationships in ways they never have before. YouTube did not exist four years ago.

“In the old days, candidates went door-to-door to reach voters,” said Jane Hall, an associate journalism professor and panel moderator. “Today, candidates are reaching out to millions of people at a time instantly through the Internet, cell phones and other interactive technologies.”

CNN made campaign history in July when it hosted its first CNN/YouTube Democratic debate. YouTube said it received 3,000 submissions; 39 of those questions were asked during that debate. The Republican Party will hold its own CNN/YouTube debate on Nov. 28.

YouTube, MySpace and FaceBook are emerging as major forces in next year’s elections. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) launched a new Web site that looks strikingly similar to MySpace. It invites people to create a profile and upload a photo. They can also create a personal blog.

Panelists Josh McConaha, the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Internet director, and Cyrus Krohn, director of the Republican National Committee’s E-Commerce campaign division, both said they use innovative, interactive ways to reach young voters.

“Beyond social networking, we are looking at conveying serious information through interactivity and a bit of entertainment,” to reach young voters, Krohn said. “We launched a project called clintonlibrarycard.com. You can go and print out your library card and hope that, as we develop more petitions, the Clintons will agree as a New Year’s resolution to open their library.”

Krohn said that the library-card initiative was just one example of how online campaigns can generate viral interest, where individuals pass content to other Web users.

The DNC uses outreach efforts like ad targeting on FaceBook and MySpace to reach their young voter base, McConaha said.

All of the candidates have a presence on the Internet. They are using Internet tools for online fundraising, volunteer recruitment and e-mail voter-outreach campaigns.

“Fundraising is a very effective tool in this campaign,” said panelist Jeanne Cummings, a Politico.com political reporter. “Some of the candidates are good at it, some okay.”

Observer photo by KEN CHAMBERLAIN
Jeanne Cummings, Politico.com reporter, and
Adam Green, MoveOn.org campaign director

But use of the Internet goes beyond social networking for the candidates.

“The Internet is changing the way we do politics,” said Adam Green, campaign director for MoveOn.org. “Traditionally, we had to depend on three television networks to see our candidates. Now, we have YouTube, where millions can contribute conversations. The Internet is tearing down the traditional power structure. We have a new set of political winners and a new set of political losers.”

If a candidate is out of touch with his or her base, anyone can start a FaceBook account or set up a petition to raise questions about an issue.

Green gave an example of “people-powered politics” when he described a presidential forum hosted by MTV. The network had a deal with 10questions.com in which people were allowed to submit and rank questions for the candidates, and the number one ranked question would be asked on national television. The top question for Obama asked if he would protect Internet neutrality, an issue not raised in any other debate.

”A perfect example of people-powered activism,” Green said.

The Internet makes it easy for people to talk to others and organize.

“Voter turnout will be fascinating,” said Dotty Lynch, CBS News political consultant and American University School of Communication Executive-in-Residence.