Campaigns Online

Campaigns Utilizes Internet Tools and Strategies to Win in 2006

Blogging, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Online Donations, and Online Organizing and Communications are Key Aspect of Political Campaigns

In this year's mid-term election, the Internet has proven to be the necessary tool for campaigning on all levels. Campaigns have developed sophisticated Internet tools to enhance their campaigns, targeting young and web-savvy voters.

Americans have embraced the Internet to connect to the political process. Online campaigning has revolutionized political communication, grassroots activism, supporter outreach, and fundraising.

"With so many close elections this year, the Internet has played a pivotal role in fundraising, organizing, and get out the vote efforts," said Alexis Rice, Project Director of CampaignsOnline.org and Fellow at the Center for the Study of American Government at Johns Hopkins University. "Campaigns have embraced Internet strategies to stay competitive."

Blogging has become an essential part of political campaigns, with campaigns, special interest groups, and national political parities not only creating blogs, but hiring paid bloggers to write on their behalf on "independent" blogs.

Campaigns utilized their own blogs to present their unfiltered message and brought supporters together to form a new online community. Campaigns have also reached out to bloggers in a similar way they have always reached out to the mainstream press, sometimes even giving bloggers more access to their campaigns than mainstream press.

Campaigns continue to depend on online donations and are utilizing e-mail and blogs to rally and communicate with their supporters and solicit donations.

This year the use of social networking tools, like Facebook.com and Myspace.com, has emerged as a new way to connect and get involve young voters in campaigns. Additionally, the video site, YouTube.com has become a clearinghouse of campaign ads and video highlighting campaign activities.

"In the 2006 election, the Internet has again proved its power; showing it is a place to organize, inform, and raise funds easily," said Rice.

###

CampaignsOnline.org, a website and blog project, is a nonpartisan research and educational project of the Center for the Study of American Government at Johns Hopkins University. CampaignsOnline.org has been profiling trends in online campaigning since 2003 and released the first academic research on political blogging in 2003.

The mission of CampaignsOnline.org is to promote improvements and understanding in the usage of the Internet and emerging technologies in political campaigns.

Contact: Campaigns Online
202-487-7017
arice@campaignsonline.org

The New Power of Facebook

The LA Times today profiles the power of Facebook in political campaigns, and notes:

"The 10 million members of Facebook.com — the social networking website that's a fixture on college campuses — aren't using it just to check out potential dates or keep track of old high school buddies. They're increasingly using it, and other Internet tools, to get involved in politics."

When Blogs Attack

In Connecticut's Second Congressional District, Democratic challenger Joseph Courtney's campaign has charged that a former campaign worker for Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) is responsible for an Internet blog with "offensive" images that attacks on Courtney.

According to the Norwich Bulletin the blog includes, "a video with images of dead bodies which appear to be related to the Holocaust, criticizing Courtney's health-care program and other images calling the Democratic candidate a communist."

Fake Campaign Bloggers?

Liberal bloggers in New Hampshire have busted a staff member to Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) for using government computers to make fake posting on liberal blogs.

Roll Call reported on the story today.

Invading Cyberspace

There is an article in the  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review today on how political campaigns have "invaded cyberspace" and discover video blogs, MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook.

The article notes:

This year's Internet-based campaign focus is unprecedented. And it's mostly aimed at younger voters who are more apt to watch streaming video on a computer instead of the evening news.

Beware What You Write on Your Personal Blog

Recently a staffer for the Senate campaign of Rep. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) was fired for keeping a personal blog about her experiences during the campaign that included racial and ethnic slurs.

The story first broke on the political blog Wizbang Politics and now has been reporter all over the mainstream press.

Democrats Forget About their Blog in Spanish

In January 2006, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) started a Spanish language blog, Blog /Foro Latino, on their website. It seemed like a great idea to reach out to Spanish speakers by using a blog, except they forgot to post to it. Since the launch of the blog in January 2006 there has only been eight posting, with the last posting in July.

It's Been A While...

It been a while, but we are back to writing!!! Already campaigns in 2006 are starting up there websites ( and lets not forget their are elections in 2005 to look at).

And then there are political bloggers... they seem to be EVERYWHERE! mainstream media still feels like they are missing out and incorporating blogs everywhere they can.

Kerry Still Using his E-mail List with 3 Million Supporters on it

Today John Kerry sent out this e-mail to his campaign supporters. It notes that this e-mail was sent out to 3 million people.

Subject: Counting On You to Make Sure Votes Get Counted

No American citizen should wake up the morning after the election and worry their vote wasn't counted. No citizen should be denied at the polls if they are eligible to vote. And, as the greatest, wealthiest nation on earth, our citizens should never be forced to vote on old, unaccountable and non transparent voting machines from companies controlled by partisan activists.

Tomorrow, members of Congress will meet to certify the results of the 2004 presidential election. I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors.

Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.

But, that does not mean we should abandon our commitment to addressing those problems that happened in Ohio. We must act today to make sure they never happen again.

I urge you to join me in using this occasion to highlight our demand that Congress commit itself this year to reforming the electoral system. A Presidential election is a national federal election but we have different standards in different states for casting and counting votes. We need a national federal standard to solve the problems that occurred in the 2004 election. I will propose legislation to help achieve this.

Florida 2000 was a wake up call. But the Republicans who control Congress ignored it. Will they now ignore what happened in 2004?

There are nearly 3,000,000 of you receiving this email. We accomplished so much together during the campaign. Now let's use our power to make sure that at least one good thing comes from the voting rights problems of the 2004 election. If we want to force real action on election reform, we've got to demand that congressional leaders hold full hearings. Make sure they hear from you and help hold them accountable.

Speaker Dennis Hastert: 1-202-225-0600
Leader Bill Frist: 1-202-224-3135

And please report that you've made your call right here:
http://www.johnkerry.com/signup/electoral_reform.php

I want every vote counted because Americans have to know that the votes they stood in line for, fought for, and strived so hard to cast in an election, are counted. We must make sure there are no questions or doubts in future elections. It's critical to our democracy that we investigate and act to prevent voting irregularities and voter intimidation across the country. We can't stand still as Congressional leaders seek to sweep well-founded voter concerns under the rug.

Please join with me in calling Speaker Hastert and Leader Frist and telling them that you want action on election reform now.

A recent report from Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) reveals very troubling questions that have not yet been answered by Ohio election officials. I commend the Democratic National Committee for its announcement this week that the DNC will be investing resources and reaching out to non-partisan academics in a long term study of Ohio voting irregularities. I am only sorry that we haven't seen the same from Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell and GOP officials.

Congress must play a positive, proactive role on this issue. That's why I will soon introduce legislation to reform our election system, ensuring transparency and accountability in our voting system and that all Americans have an opportunity to vote and have their vote counted.

Please remember to let us know that you made your call when you're done. We're hoping to ensure House and Senate leaders' offices hear our demand for action on election reform in meaningful way. Please take a moment to let us know you have made your call here: http://www.johnkerry.com/signup/electoral_reform.php

Thank you,

John Kerry

P.S. Thanks to all those who participated in our USO "phone home" campaign last week. The totals are coming in from the USO, and they are thrilled with your generosity and support for our brave men and women in uniform. We will send you totals as we get them.

Campaign Donations Up 55% in 2004

Compared to 2000, donations to candidates, parties, and political action committees were $4.8 billion this year, a 55% increase from 2000. The increase had a lot to do with the use of online donations. Glenn Hall of Bloomberg discusses this trend. The article quotes Alexis Rice (creator of campaignsonline.org) and notes:

Political fund-raisers incorporated the Internet into their appeals to an unprecedented extent, and a 2002 campaign finance law doubled the amount of money individuals could give to campaigns from $1,000 to $2,000, Cooper said.

This election was the first in which the presidential candidates extensively used the Internet as a fund-raising tool, said Alexis Rice, a fellow at the Washington-based Center for the Study of American Government at Johns Hopkins University.

``The way campaigns grew this time was in online fund raising,'' Rice said.

After former Vermont Governor Howard Dean raised more than $20 million online in 2003 for his unsuccessful bid for the presidential nomination, both Democratic nominee John Kerry and President George W. Bush tapped into the Internet, Rice said. Kerry raised $82 million and Bush $14 million online, Rice said.