2/17/2004

Dean runs Internet campaign

Madelin Esquivel
Daily Kent Stater

Nearly 640,000 Howard Dean supporters meet every day, but they don’t rent a hall or call a caterer.

So how do they do it? They meet in cyberspace.

Dean supporters use Web sites like meetup.com and deanforamerica.com to post Weblogs, or “blogs,” which are personal journal entries. On the blogs, supporters post their reactions about campaign news, strategies and future meetings.

Meetup.com, which helps its members organize nationally and meet locally, has groups related to about 4,000 different topics ranging from anime to Zen poetry. But its visibility skyrocketed once Dean’s supporters got involved.

Although Dean’s Internet campaign has been successful, it has not translated to electoral votes so far. Dean is in a distant second place behind John Kerry in total delegates won. This doesn’t surprise Rick Farmer, assistant professor of political science at the University of Akron’s Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.

“His Internet campaign didn’t turn out to be as powerful because it was a small, vocal minority,” Farmer said. “His campaign is dispersed all across the country. I don’t see his circumstances in this election changing.”

Other Democratic candidates’ supporters have tried to use the Internet in the same way, but no other campaign has seen Dean’s Web presence. Farmer said Dean’s Internet campaign has been successful for three reasons.

“First, he was tapping into a (computer) savvy constituency,” he said. “Second, the Web is a perfect place for people who are passionate about a cause to get involved and get together, and third, Dean’s campaign team was (computer) savvy. It was a great convergence of circumstances. The Dean campaign had an infrastructure that tapped into this message. I don’t think it could have happened without all three.”

Dean’s Internet success has come from the launch of his Internet Initiatives in September 2003. According to Dean’s Web site, deanforamerica.com, the initiatives consist of:

n A brief statement of principles, which are intended to help people who are interested in fulfilling the ideals of democracy.

n The Net Advisory Net, which consists of an advisory panel that will provide Dean with information on the Internet’s impact on society.

n The release of downloadable Web Community Kits, which include software tools for Weblogs, picture galleries, forums and a shared calendar.

Dean told Gary Wolf, contributing editor of Wired magazine, in the January 2004 issue that the Internet has changed politics for many people.

“The Internet community is wondering what its place in the world of politics is,” Dean said. “Along comes this campaign to take back the country for ordinary human beings, and the best way you can do that is through the Net. We listen. We pay attention. If I give a speech and the blog people don’t like it, next time I change the speech.”

However, Farmer said the Dean campaign’s Internet participation could have a downside.

“It’s long been a concern among campaign managers that placing too much material on the Web is dangerous because it paints you into a corner — there’s a written record of what you say,” he said. “Two kinds of people are looking at the Web — passionate supporters and opponents. You don’t necessarily know what they (opponents) stand for. Theirs is not written down.”

Pat Carano, Tallmadge resident and meetup.com member, said the initiative has to go further than the blogs and the meet-ups.

“We need to try and pull these people in so they’ll vote year in, year out,” he said. “I hope it’s not a group that sits around and talks about it — you gotta take action. It’s all right to talk about in blogs, but you gotta take action.”

Farmer said he doesn’t see the use of the Internet changing the future of American politics.

“Americans are busy with their lives — they’re not in searching the Internet,” he said. “They’re much more interested in who won Survivor than who won Virginia. Until the American culture changes and says, ‘Politics is important in my life,’ people aren’t going to be interested.”

E-mail: mesquive@kent.edu