Campaigns Online

Internet Helps in Grassroots Organizing

The Washington Post has an informative article today on "Grass-Roots Politics With Click of a Mouse" the article notes, "As the election season reaches its peak, Silicon Valley is using its technical know-how and money to try to change politics in the same way it reinvented commerce -- by harnessing the Internet's ability to take advantage of and grow social networks from the bottom up."

Campaigns Sending Out Lots of E-mails to Supporters

If you have ever given your e-mail address to a political campaign or political organization, you know that recently your mailbox has been jammed with lots of e-mails. Since e-mail is very low cost, it is easy and cost effective to use this tool. The campaigns are begging for more money in the final stretch and e-mail is a great pitching tool to do this.

One e-mail I received today from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was very specfic on how a donation could help:

$25 pays for 25 lawn signs that increase candidate visibility.
$50 funds 100 direct mail messages to potential voters.
$100 enables us to telephone 1000 voters with a Get-Out-The-Vote message.
$500 buys a radio ad every 30 minutes in a workday in Augusta, GA.

It went on to say, "If you're just tuning in for the first time or if you've been following the fight for a New Majority for months, it's time to take action. The clock is ticking — if you're waiting to make a contribution, don't wait any longer — we need the money now to make a difference in this election.

Big Impact in the 2004 Campaign: Internet Fundraising and Blogging

It’s been a year since Johns Hopkins launched the Campaigns Online project and what a year it has been! The use of the Internet and blogging has really evolved in the 2004 election. But overall there has been three major changing in campaigning:

1. Online fundraising- it has became a MAJOR way to collect funds and can be done in many creative ways! Kerry’s campaign ( after learning a lesson from Dean) has been able to capitalized on this helping him stay competitive with Bush in raising cash fast!

2. Political Bloggers – they were invited to the convention and have a HUGH following. Many are now featured as political pundits and are being interview by the mainstream media. Also many mainstream media reporters now have their own blogs they write on.

3. Campaign Blogs- Who knew what Dean started now is standard for Bush and Kerry campaigns, besides that the political parties have blogs, and many state and local candidates now have campaign blogs too!