As candidates in the 2008 presidential race have announced their official nominations earlier than any other campaign cycle in history, they are capitalizing on the success of Internet politicking as more Oval Office hopefuls turn to the web to reach voters.
“Technology may be the pivotal point [in the 2008 election],” said Tom Harpointner, CEO of AIS Media, an online software company that often advises prominent political candidates. “It provides a backdoor channel to an audience that may be difficult to reach.”
Candidates can best reach out to the generation of college students through online campaigning because students are often too busy to consume traditional media, such as print newspapers and television, Harpointner said.
The campaigns with the best tech-savvy managers will be most effective, he added. Because each email sent by campaigns is free, Harpointner said candidates cannot afford to not use the Internet.
“[There is] no excuse not to be using [email] because budget is too tight,” he said.
In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick has used the Internet to his benefit, maintaining a weekly blog on the Mass.gov website. Patrick uses his blog and podcasts to update residents on issues, such as making cabinet selections, restructuring government agencies and prioritizing energy policy.
“[Technology] really allows campaigns to connect,” said Liz Morningstar, executive director of Patrick’s campaign committee.
Some politicians are organizing their websites to appeal to younger audiences, using email newsletters, blogs, YouTube.com videos, Facebook.com profiles and Really Simple Syndication feeds to reach voters. Primarily used by news media, RSS feeds allow users to access frequently updated digital content.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is widely credited with proving the effectiveness of grassroots online marketing during the 2004 election. At the beginning of his campaign, Dean had approximately 550 supporters on his website, and six months later, he had half a million.
Supporting the idea of the Internet’s growing importance in political campaigns, 92 percent of politicians will spend at least half of their campaign budgets on Internet endeavors in 2008, according to an August 2006 study released by the E-Voter Institute and PointRoll, Inc.
The study also reported more than 40 percent of voters have either sent or received a political email to or from friends and family. About 35 percent had used email to contact either a candidate or politician with concerns.
“Candidates who advertise online and develop strong email lists will see their dollars better leveraged than those candidates who simply spend more on what worked last election,” said Karen Jagoda, founder and president of E-Voter Institute, in an Aug. 22 statement.
Boston University assistant political science professor Douglas Kriner said the use of podcasts and other Internet techniques puts candidates in a win-win situation by connecting them with new audiences at low costs.
“This makes a lot of sense with a youth vote that has a lower-than-average probability of turning out to the polls,” he said in an email. “Politicians would love to mobilize them, but past low voting records among younger people encourages them to focus their resources elsewhere.”