People have been actively searching the Internet for political information, and ever since Howard Dean amassed a sizable war chest with a grass-roots Net-centric effort the minds behind political parties have continued to seek ways to squeeze more out of the Internet.
Two years in politics is as much of an eyeblink as two years in Internet time. Things change fast. Internet-based political initiatives should be receiving much more attention, and funding, this time around and in the future:
The candidates – and their consultants – have taken notice. For the 2008 national election, 92% of the 155 political consultants polled by E-Voter Institute, HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion expect to spend between 1% and 50% of their campaign budgets online. By the 2016 national elections, 18% of the respondents expect to spend more than half their campaign advertising budgets online.
Advertising has importance because of its placement on sites beyond the digital confines of political parties. This has proved important for a few reasons according to Phillips:
Rich media ads on Web sites that belonged to parties other than the candidate (newspapers, TV networks, etc.) were most effective at garnering new e-mail addresses (83% of respondents said so), getting people to take surveys (75%) and motivating the candidate’s base and raising money (70% each).
That last bit is very important. We can give a very local example, citing US Senator Mitch McConnell’s opening remarks to a political science class in the early 70s:
He didn’t introduce himself to his students. He went straight to the chalkboard and scribbled.
“I am going to teach you the three things you need to build a political party,” he said, and backed away to reveal the words: “Money, money, money.”
It’s much easier to launch a party today, thanks to the Internet. The Unity08 effort began with a website, and has embraced other aspects of the Internet like blogging, email, and online donations to build its centrist bi-partisan party.
History will judge just how effective a political party with an online genesis can be in what is shaping up to be a massive battle for the White House in 2008. Money makes the political players, and a well-financed online campaign could have an influence at the polls.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
