haynes - new media political campaigns 2008

8/18/2019 Haynes - New Media Political Campaigns 2008

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Making an Impression in the 21 st Century: An Examination of Campaign Use ofNew Media in the 200 !residentia" Nomination Campaign

Audrey HaynesAssociate Professor Department of Political ScienceSchool of Public and International AffairsUniversity of Georgia

A#stra$t: This paper examines and evaluates the use of ne media tools by the presidential nomination candidates and their campaigns in !""#$ particularly their

e%ampaign staffing$ official ebsites$ blogosphere bu&&$ social net or'ing efforts$ and(ouTube activity) After a discussion of the ne media in general and its use in the leadup to the !""# primaries and caucuses$ I evaluate the candidates* efforts at utili&ing nemedia$ put forth a number of lessons that might be learned from this campaign cycle anda number of avenues that political science research should explore)

D+A,T

-anuary .$ !""#

/ot for citation ithout permission)


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Introdu$tion0very presidential nomination campaign cycle sees some change in the process)

These alterations bring ne challenges and opportunities for the candidates ho aspire to

become their party*s presidential nominee) It might be a televised debate such as that

hich too' place bet een /ixon and 1ennedy in .23") It could be ne rules set do n

by the national committee hich opened up the process and increased the number of

primaries in .24!$ or the campaign finance rules passed by %ongress that altered the

playing field in .243) %hange could be found each cycle in a varied primary and caucus

calendar as states shift their dates for strategic purposes) It might even be the

introduction of ne tools for finding$ communicating ith and persuading voters) In the

t enty first century$ the 5ne media6 are the next innovation for presidential candidates$

7ust as radio and television and the computeri&ed data bases revolutioni&ed the process inearlier decades) Today candidates are incorporating the innovations that have emerged

during the 5e6volution in communication$ mar'eting and fundraising) The analog orld

is no a digital one$ and presidential candidates are a part of the transformation)

8hile the same basic goals for campaigns apply 9 get the message out and the

voters into the voting booth$ the tools to accomplish these goals are :uite different today)

8e can still recogni&e the spot ad$ the ne s story$ the tal'ing points$ the spin$ but they are

no delivered to the public via ne media and traditional media) %andidates still rely

heavily on television advertising hen they can afford the cost) They 'no that most

Americans still atch television$ but they also 'no that increasingly$ those same

individuals are visiting the Internet for information and entertainment) /o candidates

can air ads over the Internet at much less cost$ hile simultaneously airing them on radio

and television as in the past) Ads that once ere only seen in a handful of states are seen

by millions on the candidate*s ebsite$ (ou Tube$ or one of the many video hubs on the

Internet) ;anner ads are bought in ne spapers but they are also vie ed online)

%andidates ith little money can use creativity and an inexpensive soft are program tocreate an ad$ run it and hope that it goes viral as those ho vie it send it to others or

embed it in their blogs) %andidates can send thousands of emails a day out to supporters

and potential supporters) This is in addition to the phone ban's that they still utili&e)

They can harness the po er of the internet to have supporters from all over the country

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send them donations$ easily and repeatedly) They can create net or's of supporters

across the country ithin an online community here there is no spiral of silence$ but

rather a tornado of tal'ing about their candidate) 0ven if they live in an area here no one

supports their candidate$ an individual can connect ith thousands of others


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+eading the ne media version of the New York Times is very different than

reading the paper version) Bnline$ you find and read the story much as you ould your

paper version$ but online you have many more choices and opportunities to explore

beyond a typical sidebar) (ou may atch a supplemental video offering on the story

topic$ interact on the discussion board$ clic' on an embedded hyperlin' that ta'es you to

a related story$ or :uic'ly peruse 8i'ipedia to loo' up some information that you found

intriguing but as only briefly mentioned in the story) (ou might even send this story to

a friend via email or tag it for your Delicious page) ;y most people*s standards$ the

experience is enriched) There are more places to go and things to see and do) 0verything

is lin'ed and the opportunity for learning is almost infinite) That is the potential of ne

media$ and it has implications for ho e learn about political candidates) ,orget about

having a ma7or ne s entity intermediate your choice of information) Today$ a goodsearch engine and some time is all one needs to investigate a candidate) If the candidate

is an office holder$ one can generate information on his or her voting record$ campaign

contributions$ s'eletons in his or her closet$ and so on)

Since most of the ne media are utili&ed primarily through the Internet$ it is here

that e go next) If e ish to explore the potential for ne media for helping

presidential candidates get out their message and reach their public$ e need to see hat

the nature of this mar'et is before ma'ing such assessments)

%ho uses the Internet and how is it used&According to the Pe +esearch %enter in !""4$ 4C of Americans have utili&ed

the Internet for some purpose) A recent Harris Poll survey$ hich polled !$"3! adults in

-uly and Bctober of !""4$ found that 42 percent of adults about .4# million go

online spending an average .. hours a ee' on the Internet) Eoreover$ the Internet

public is beginning to loo' more li'e the public in general) 8hile there are still gaps in

age$ income$ and race$ overall the increases in usage have added older$ less educated$more racially diverse users to the population)


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The latest data on Internet use of ne s and campaign information suggests that

4! of the general public ent online to get ne s > ent online to get political ne s

or information about candidates or upcoming campaigns < Pew Internet & American Life

Project Tracking surveys (February- arc! "##$% August "## ' . Eore individuals are

citing the Internet as a primary ne s source) 8hile television still dominates$ the number

of individuals ho use the internet as the primary source for ne s information has been

increasing steadily)

8ho are these people ho use the internet for ne s information Studies suggest

that a decade ago this ould have been composed mostly of male$ hite$ ealthy

individuals$ but are today more mainstream in nature) The profile of the

ne s?information consumer on the Internet is no roughly even bet een male and

female) It is still disproportionately hite


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t!at information t!ey receive on*ine was t!e determining factor in voting for or against

an in ivi ua*+

So hile calculations of ho many people currently use the Internet for political$

and in particular campaign information has varied$ there is no :uestion that the numbers

have increased) ,or the most part$ the typical individual ho uses the Internet for

campaign information is generally using this platform to find out here candidates stand

on issues and to research their voting record) This may be an indication of the ease by

hich this is accomplished through ne media and the general difficulty posed by the

traditional media) In most instances consumers of television and radio ne s must

constantly atch in order to find out hat a candidate is saying on a topic$ and because

policy stances may not necessarily be ne s or evo'e special coverage$ this passive

medium does not allo the information consumer to ma'e choices but to ta'e hat can be gotten) /e media$ on the other hand$ allo the consumer not only to 5find6 hat is

re:uired$ but oftentimes to add something to hat is already ther e) This is particularly

valuable to those ho have strong stands on particular issues and ant to 'no hat the

candidate has done or said in that area) It can also be some hat challenging to

candidates) The time here they can say one thing to one audience and something else to

another is over) 0ven if the press is not at an event$ there might be a blogger or an

ordinary citi&en ho posts the information some here on the eb)

'hat was the good on"ine news( this is the #ad on"ine news)

Bne of the more interesting findings in recent studies of Internet use is also one

that has implications for the population*s exposure to political ne s and information The

Pro7ect for 0xcellence in -ournalism study$ T!e Latest News ,ea *ines Your .ote

/ounts *September .!$ !""4=$ suggests that citi&en generated ne s is more diverse and

more transitory in nature) Unli'e the relative homogeneity of ne s found in the

mainstream media$ they found that Internet users ere more li'ely to vie and email

each other a very eclectic batch of ne s$ very often more practical in nature or

entertaining) > 0ven hile there ere some potential problems ith the study$ there still> The study included four ebsites$ three of hich


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seems to be a great deal of face validity to the suggestion that if ne s content ere user

generated$ it might be some hat different than that of a traditional ne s organi&ation

given the interests of the population at large) This fits in ith established uses and

gratification theory ith regard to information consumption)

Ear'us Prior*s or'

might occur) Prior argued that greater media choice allo s people to find their preferred

content) Those ho li'e political information ill have greater ease in finding it$ hile

those ho prefer entertainment and the li'e$ ill as ell) /o that there is no need to sit

in front of the television and listen to the political ne s before hearing the sports$ there

are many ho ill receive no political ne s) And thus$ according to Prior$ the increased

media choice actually idens the gap in political 'no ledge and political action rather

than as others have suggested$ getting many more involved in politics);ut 7ust as those ho li'e to be entertained do not have to sit through the ne s or

be forced to atch the debates or the State of the Union because no there is cable and

satellite$ the ne media allo presidential candidates and candidates in general$ to

become a part of entertainment) Indeed$ even before the revolution of ne media$

candidates found their ay to places li'e the Arsenio ,a** 0!ow $12ra! and Late Nig!t

wit! 3avi Letterman ) Some$ li'e -ohn Ec%ain$ made it into bloc'buster movies) He

did a cameo appearance in 4e ing %rashers and on the popular ,ox drama "5 ) Hillary

%linton received some summer bloc'buster exposure for her campaign in T!e 0im2son6s

ovie as Scratchy*s *"# vice presidential running mate) Eost recently$ Ei'e Huc'abee

launched his campaign*s advertising efforts ith an immensely entertaining but

politically effective spot in hich %huc' /orris$ celebrity tough guy$ endorsed his

campaign) The ad lauched on (ou Tube on /ovember .#$ and by December !C$ it had

over one million vie s) So it may be the gap can be broached by effective$ yet

the results) They found that the user generated content as very different from the mainstream press forthe three user generated pages and some hat less different for (ahoo ne s) Bne problem ith the study$ho ever$ is that li'e many user generated content pages$ the three ebsites chose$ particularly Digg and+eddit are very niche ebsites) (ahoo has a more general audience) The others are typically male$ young$tech and liberal) Bf course they ere more interested in the launch of the Apple iPhone than most politicalne s) Eoreover$ on +eddit and Digg$ certain high activity users have more authority in determining hatne s goes to the top of the list) So in a sense$ there is some editorial control by a more limited number ofindividuals rather than a true reflection of democratic ne s determination) If you read the comments$ ho ever$ you ill see that most of them ere posted by +on Paul supporters

and are not very flattering)

4


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entertaining ads and debates such as %//*s (ou Tube debate that generated a significant

number of vie s for both parties* forums)

+our$es of Internet News: Not what you wou"d expe$t

According to -ohnson et al)

on blogs more than any other ne s source for ne s and information) Eoreover$ these

blogs ere 7udged as more credible than online ne spaper sites$ online cable television

sites$ and online broadcast ne s sites) Their heavy usage by Internet users has been

explained primarily by four reasons@ community$ convenience$ fact chec'ing$ and

information see'ing) ;logs tend to foster a sense of community among users) There is asense of belonging$ of sharing perspectives) Bften blogs encourage commentary and a

visitor to the blog might interact ith others ho read and post ith regularity)

Bne type of blog 9referred to as a filter type 9 is favored by users because they

aggregate information from many different sites) ;logs are different from corporate

o ned media and therefore are more li'ely to dive into issues that users care about but

that may be controversial


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Internet users are more liberal than conservative$ more Democratic than +epublican$ but

suggested that this ould change as Internet usage became more idespread$ and I ould

add$ as candidates of the +epublican Party begin to utili&e the po er of the Internet to

their advantage) This moves us to the next :uestion$ so ho are the candidates in !""#

utili&ing these ne tools It is clear that the electorate is online$ so have the candidates

responded Are they using the po er of the eb effectively

New Media and the Candidates: %ho %ins the Internet !rimary&

'he ,ired -uns

Did you 'no that before the Invisible primary and the Eoney Primary$ and

before the Internet primary there is the Political Bperative primary 0very season$ those

in the 'no $ atch carefully as potential presidential candidates start recruiting the top

advisors to their campaigns) Eany may remember the tussle bet een -ohn 1erry and

-ohn 0d ards to in ;ob Shrum to their respective campaigns) /o this contest has

been expanded to BPBs $ political operatives ere 7ust beginning to create non static$ interactive

ebsites


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of the ma'ing a contribution you gave and the candidate interacted ith you by sending

a than' you message) There as certainly not streaming video or meet up re:uests$ and

there ere no social net or'ing applications available at that time)

In !"">$ presidential candidate ebsites received a update 9 no they had blogs$

donate no buttons ith faster processing times$ massive email lists$ and Eeetup event

tools that ere utili&ed first by the Dean campaign) Some campaigns loo'ed as'e at

these changes as nothing more than bells and histles$ not effective tools for generating

and organi&ing support$ but these naysayers :uic'ly moved to replicate and enhance the

innovations that existed hen they sa that it could and did have an impact)

In !""#$ basically every candidate has at least one online strategist or eb

consultant) Hillary %linton*s online strategist$ Peter Dauo$ also or'ed for 1erry

0d ards !"">) Dauo as considered a liberal blogger$ one of the most ell 'no n in political circles as ell$ having created Slate)com*s 3auo 8e2ort ) Adding Dauo to her

staff as thought to help Hillary ith the liberal left$ a group that she had found herself

having to court due to her stance on Ira:)

Hillary %linton*s online team consists of /athaniel Pearlman$ her %hief

Technology Bfficer$ ho is also the ,ounder and Director of /GP Soft are) His

company deals ith donor management and compliance$ voter contact management$

integrated services li'e broadcast email$ ebsite design?build$ and eb tools that ta'e

care of contribution processing) His company$ /GP$ or's only ith Democrats and is

one of the leaders in the field) Daou*s official title is Internet Director) %rystal Patterson

)4 He is also one of the

founding partners of ;lue State Digital$ a company that speciali&es in Internet strategy$

communications and fundraising) -osh Brton$ ho as fired or resigned


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the Bbama campaign) Bbama has his o n blogger as paid staff$ Sam Graham ,elsen$

ho rote for The /ation and created their Mideo/ation) Bbama*s campaign employs

t o more individuals ho focus primarily on video$ and one other ho deals ith email

traffic

The 0d ards campaign hired Aaron Eyers as Director of Internet Bperations)

Eyers or'ed for the 1erry?0d ards campaign in much the same capacity and for

Gore?Nieberman in !""") He also or'ed for Sen) Tom Har'in) 0d ards had t o Senior

Advisors for Bnline %ommunications$ Eathe Gross and +yan Eontoya) ;en ;rand&el

is the Director of Bnline %ommunications and Brgani&ing) His name is probably familiar

to many given his association ith EoveBn)org) He or'ed ith them as Advocacy

Director and ith the Ho ard Dean campaign in !"">) Tracy +usso is the Bnline

%ommunications Eanager) She had or'ed previously as the ;logger and BnlineButreach %oordinator for The Democratic /ational %ommittee)

Typically the top tier candidates in the BPB primary) They are able to recruit

tech savvy$ yet politically hard ired talent) Eost of these operatives have or'ed in

political campaigns or political organi&ations and have tremendous experience) Bnce e

move beyond this pool of talent$ e find fe er experienced BPBs) Eost of the lo er tier

candidates are relying on younger talent) These are college grads ho are tech savvy$ but

ith less campaign experience) And most of the lo er tier candidates have three or

fe er$ most typically one or t o BPBs)

As to the +epublican campaigns$ e find a more varied group of BPBs) Eost of

the candidates do not have the e%ampaign staff that the leading Democrats have in their

campaigns) Eany are less experienced) Giuliani had one of the real 5gets6 on the

+epublican side of the tech savvy orld$ Patric' +uffini) +uffini as 8ebmaster for the

;ush !""> reelection campaign and then ent to or' for the +/%) His blog as

considered one of the first serious attempts on behalf of the +epublicans to build an

online community) He is one of the young


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As to the other leading candidates$ Eitt +omney as able to recruit Eindy ,inn

as Director of eStrategy) Her bac'ground is probably one of the strongest$ having or'ed

for the +/% and +ic' Santorum running blogs$ ebsites and so forth) She as also 8eb

Easter for ;ush %heney *">)

Huc'abee$ ho has been rising in the polls recently$ has seen his internet bu&& and

traffic to his ebsite increase tremendously over the /ovember and December months of

!""4) He has a moderately si&ed team of mostly little 'no n professionals and some

recent college grads) 1irsten ,ede a is his Internet Director) Her experience comes

mostly from her or' ith the Governor*s Association as press secretary) Huc'abee also

employs an official ;logger$ a Director of Bnline %ommunication$ and a EySpace Page

Eoderator) His campaign opos may be among the least experienced of the current first

tier) +ecently$ after one of the +epublican debates$ the Huc'abee campaign lost its server and had to endure !> hours of being offline) They ere unable to ans er the multitude of

emails coming in after the debate)

Ec%ain*s e%ampaig Director is Eichael Palmer$ ho or'ed in ;ush %heney

O"> campaign) He also has a deputy director$ Ear' SooHoo and a videographer) ;oth

Palmer and SooHoo came from %ampaign Solutions$ a +epublican e%ampaign consulting

firm) Ec%ain also employs a videographer)

,red Thompson*s staff listings are the most interesting$ particularly their titles)

Eichael Tur' is listed as 5%hief Architect6 of 8ebsite and e%ampaign) Tur' has his o n

blog$ 1ung ,u uip$ and comes to the campaign from the +/% and ;ush %heney *">)

Thompson*s team also has a /e Eedia %onsultant$ and staffer dedicated to 8eb

Butreach)

+on Paul is by far the dominant name in the e%ampaign on the +epublican side)

(et he has$ by far$ the most limited e%ampaign staff$ and relies more on his supporters to

provide support than paid staff members) His Internet director$ -ustine Nam$ also serves

as his Bffice Eanager) Nam is only !# years old$ and hen covered by the media$ there

is al ays a reference to her 5hat cam6$ the device she uses to capture +on Paul*s events

to stream onto the Internet) Ho ever$ the campaign has raised a tremendous amount of

money$ all of it online$ and the Paul supporters are the most active on the Internet)

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In summary$ the Democratic candidates have more and better support in the

e%ampaign area and that is primarily due to the source pool for such talent) At this

7uncture$ the political gee' s:uad tends to be more left leaning than right leaning) (oung

+epublican BPBs are or'ing to change that and during the next campaign cycles e

ill probably see more talent emerging for the +epublicans$ particularly if the campaign

outcomes suggest that the e%ampaign mattered)

Candidate %e#sites

Given the resources spent on developing an e%ampaign$ do e see individuals$

particularly in those states that candidates care about$ utili&ing the eb as part of their

information gathering$ decision ma'ing routines +esearch suggests that ebsites

matter$ particularly as a means to learn about the candidate and as an impression builderabout the candidate


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Alexa does something a bit different) Alexa is an online service that measures the

approximate traffic for millions of ebsites on the Internet) If you visit Alexa)com$ you

can generate your o n comparison of the eb traffic across ebsites) +esults are the

percentage of global Internet users that visited your page on a particular day) In the

graphs belo $ one can see that Bbama*s ebsite has had consistently more traffic and an

increase in traffic over the last three months) %linton has a consistently higher amount of

traffic relative to 0d ards$ hose traffic has been consistent but flat) ;iden and Dodd

are at the bottom) 1ucinich cannot even been seen in terms of traffic and as therefore

eliminated from the analysis) Dodd*s traffic has increased$ and this may be due to some

innovations on his ebsite) +ecently Dodd introduced his %hannel ! here he ill

stream live action from his campaign head:uarters onto the ebpage) Thus$ people ho

are generally interested in ho campaigns or' might be inclined to visit his page) Bnething to note is that the there do seem to be some similarities in terms of pea's and

valleys in daily page vie s across the Democratic candidates) This suggests that visitors

are responding to similar external catalysts that may get them to candidate ebsites) This

is a :uestion for future analysis) 8hat motivates the public to go to particular candidate

ebsites 8ill the same types of theories that explain general information see'ing also

explain purposeful eb surfing Do the traditional media$ particularly television and

radio create the 5push6 to go to a candidate ebsites$ or do candidates themselves and the

process$ create a 5pull6 to their ebsites Some or' has been done that compares the

relative impact of traditional media versus the Internet


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.3


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In Table . and !$ I present the Alexa +an's for each candidate) If a site hasextremely limited traffic$ it ill not even generate an Alexa ran' score) The ran' ranges

from . th$ and ;iden*s ebsite might be ran'ed .44$4#. st) %urrently$ Huc'abee

and Bbama dominate the traffic ratings) And increased traffic does appear to mirror

increased poll numbers) This$ too$ may be a :uestion that political scientists ish to

address in the future) Ho are the t o related As poll numbers increase does this lead

more to see' out information on the eb Br is it the other ay around Br do both

respond to some other external factor such as coverage in the traditional media

'a#"e 1: +ummary +$ore for .emo$rati$ Candidate %e#sites #y %e#site-rader

+e$tion /#ama C"inton Edwards

8ebsite Grade ##Google Page +an' 3 3

Alexa +an' 1 30 CC$CC# 34$2"2

(ahoo Inbound Nin's 43 56 >CC$!>. ."3$"#.

Delicious Saved %ount 3 C#2 !4

Google Indexed Pages .$C " 5 130 !>

.4

http://www.websitegrader.com/#SiteGradehttp://www.websitegrader.com/#GooglePageRankhttp://www.websitegrader.com/#AlexaRankhttp://www.websitegrader.com/#InboundLinkshttp://www.websitegrader.com/#DeliciousSavedCounthttp://www.websitegrader.com/#GoogleIndexedhttp://www.websitegrader.com/#SiteGradehttp://www.websitegrader.com/#GooglePageRankhttp://www.websitegrader.com/#AlexaRankhttp://www.websitegrader.com/#InboundLinkshttp://www.websitegrader.com/#DeliciousSavedCounthttp://www.websitegrader.com/#GoogleIndexed


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'a#"e 2: +ummary +$ore for 7epu#"i$an Candidate %e#sites #y %e#site-rader

+e$tion !au" ,u$ka#ee 7omney 7udy M$Cain

8ebsite Grade 24 2! 2CGoogle Page +an' > 3 3

Alexa +an' 6 2 2 51 101 3>$>33 2.$!.4 .">$.!#

(ahoo InboundNin's

1 600 630 35 1 6 !2C$#.! C>"$2>. .#4$2".

Delicious Saved%ount

650 3 !

Google IndexedPages

3## !$" " 6 200 $C"" 3$"4"

Inbound lin's are one of the most important measures for a ebsite) This

measures ho many other sites are lin'ing to it


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as hether or not the ebsite has a clear title$ strong meta data


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8ebsites are an important tool for a presidential candidate) It is ne hub


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contribute)hillaryclinton)com$ !) go to connect)hillaryclinton)com and )3 go to

lin's)hillaryclinton)com) /ote that Hillary %linton has no addicts in her audience) These

are people ho visit the site repeatedly during a time period$ generally C" or more times

per month) ;ut she does have more regular visitors than Bbama and 0d ards)

9arack 1bama

Bbama*s ebsite reaches over !4#$.!3 month uni:ues) The audience

composition is 4 passers by$ !> regulars and . addicts) Bf the visits made to the

page$ >! are generated by passers by$ >C by regulars and .3 by addicts) His site is

popular among a primarily older$ more educated and more female follo ing and strongly

dominated by African Americans) The household income distribution for the audience is

evenly distributed) According to uantcast$ the typical visitor to his page follo s Hillary%linton$ reads democrats)org and subscribes to In Style and Mogue$ pays attention to the

Daily 1os and visits realclearpolitics)com) There is much more subdomain activity for

Bbama) Bver > of his visitors go to mybarac'obama)com ! by passers by$ " by

regulars$ and # by addicts) The site tends to attract a more educated$ more female$ and

primarily older audience that is mostly %aucasian) According to uantcast$ the typical

visitor follo s Hillary %linton and reads democrats)org) Bne ould fine a similar

audience profile for actblue)com) The subdomain activity for 0d ards is :uite limited as

ell) Bnly .>)! go to blog)7ohned ards)com and 4)C percent go to

party)7ohned ards)com


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The other Democratic candidates have smaller audiences but similar demographic

characteristics for those audiences) Bne interesting bit of data is that the lo er level

candidates* share of visits is often generated by their addicts$ ho are relatively fe but

busy) ;iden$ for example$ has an audience composition of less than . addicts$ but they

account for over C" of his site*s visits)

8on Pau*

Paul*s ebsite generates over >C2$4#C monthly uni:ues) His audience is

composed of 4. passers by$ !# regulars$ and . percent addicts) His share of visits is

distributed as !2 passers by$ >. by regulars and !2 by addicts) The sites visitor

profile is some hat biased to ard males$ more educated$ primarily older$ fairly ealthy$

and mostly %aucasian) The subdomain traffic is limited to .)> going to the +on Paul;log) This is primarily due again to the portal nature of the site) Misitors are not even

allo ed to post comments on the blog on the actual campaign ebsite) The typical

visitor visits lp)org


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a ebsite is for other ebsites$ finds that +omney*s audience is M0+( similar to that of

Ei'e Huc'abee$ Duncan Hunter and Sam ;ro nbac')

ike ,uckabee

Huc'abee*s ebsite generated !43$>> monthly uni:ues) Prior to /ovember of

!""4 this number as much lo er) His audience composition is 32 passers by$ C"

regulars and . addicts) Passers by generate C2 of his ebsite*s visits$ follo ed by

regulars ho generate ># $ and the remaining .C is generated by addicts) There as

no subdomain activity for the ebsite) 8hile his 8ebsite Grade as high$ it is li'ely that

it is traffic and lin's$ as ell as the presence of a blog that generated the score) His

ebsite is one of the least sophisticated and most standard of all the candidates) This

may change as more resources and attention come to him) %urrently the site attractsmostly %aucasian$ a some hat more male and more educated follo ing) Huc'abee does

poorly among Hispanic$ Asian and African American eb surfers$ the orst among the

leading candidates in his party) He has fe site visitors ith incomes over .""1 and

more site visitors in comes bet een C"1 and 3"1) The average visitor to Huc'abee*s site

reads gop)com and subscribes to /ational Geographic according to uantcast)

The other candidates$ primarily Ec%ain and ,red Thompson$ loo' very similar in

terms of their audiences) ;oth audiences s'e very male$ older and more middle class)

;oth have audiences that are primarily passers by addicts to spea' of) Ec%ain*s traffic is fairly consistent$ and is on the ups ing)

Thompson*s gre $ pea'ed$ and then declined) 8here they differ are in their site*s affinity

ratings) ,or example$ those ho visit Ec%ain*s ebsite tend to follo +udy Giuliani and

read the Daily 1os) Thompson*s typical visitor tends to read Eedicine/et)com and read

/e s Eax) It is li'ely that a Thompson supporter is not as politically interested or

'no ledgeable as a Ec%ain ebsite visitor)

In the future$ political scientists may ish to examine these visits more carefully)

Ho do they reflect interest in the campaign 8hat is the nature of the regular versus the

addict Ho can candidates harness this information to capture more supporters to their

campaign 8hat can it tell us about ho individuals use the candidate ebsites in their

decision ma'ing process

!C


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7aising Money

There is no doubt that the Internet has been responsible for ne campaign

contributions to many campaigns$ but significantly to the presidential campaigns) The

ne media allo individuals to :uic'ly and easily go to a candidate*s ebsite and ma'e a

contribution) Bne can no use a credit card or an existing paypal account) And once the

contribution is made that candidate 'no s ho you are and ill certainly contact you

again for another contribution)

According to the /e (or' Times$ ithin the first six months of !""4$ the top

three Democratic presidential candidates$ %linton$ 0d ards and Bbama raised more than

L!# million dollars in online donations) +epublicans ere behind some hat ith their

top three candidates at that time$ Giuliani$ Ec%ain and +omney raising more than L.>million)

And the donations have all the appearances of grassroots activity$ as one might

expect) In fact$ 2" percent of Bbama*s money came in contributions of L."" or less) And

these donations are responsible for the continued existence of some candidates) +on

Paul*s has sustained his candidacy and gro n his organi&ation ith his Internet

donations) During the fourth :uarter along$ +on Paul raised over L.# million dollars$

most of it using EySpace$ ,aceboo'$ T itter$ and so on)

Giuliani$ ho has fallen behind some hat in the national polls$ and is not

campaigning in Io a or /e Hampshire$ has done the least in terms of online donations

of the ma7or candidates)

8hat the Internet does is allo candidates to reach the usually hard to reach small

givers) These are people ho give L." or L!" to a campaign) ;efore the Internet$ most

fundraising as accomplished through direct mail)

There is still limited data available outside of hat the candidates report in terms

of hat percentage of their money comes from Internet fundraising) %learly inroads have

been met$ particularly in reaching small donors and generating repeat donors) %andidates

have also ta'en to trying to ma'e giving fun by getting supporters involved in 5the sport6

of fundraising 9 or'ing collectively to reach a goal and beat the other team) Bbama$

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and other candidates$ use their ebsites to highlight the names of real people ho have

given to their campaign)

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'a#"e 4: 7o$ksB+u$ks Candidate Ana"ysis+ear$h term 7ating *higher is #etter

,i""ary C"inton 6=2;arac' Bbama 2)#-ohn 0d ards .")"-oe ;iden 2).%hris Dodd .")"Dennis 1ucinich .")";ill +ichardson #)!Ei'e Gravel 2).Mitt 7omney 6=3Ei'e Huc'abee 2)47udy -iu"iani 2=Dohn M$Cain 3=,red Thompson 2)2+on Paul

+on Paul-eorge ;ush 3=

,inally$ e turn to the bu&& trendsetters 9 (ou Tube and EySpace) These are

probably the most discussed ne media features of the !""# elections) (ou Tube has

been used by candidates for video hosting campaign videos$ but it has also been used by

individuals to post commentary about candidates$ original supportive and opposition

videos$ :uestions to candidates$ music videos about candidates$ and so on) Eillions have

participated through (ou Tube$ either vie ing or posting$ adding commentary and the

li'e) Eoreover$ (ou Tube created it o n 0lection *"# hub as ell) 8hich candidate samore (ou Tube action during the early phases of this campaign season Table 3 brea's

this information do n) It reports the number of vie s of videos related to the candidate

and the candidate*s overall ran' ithin the field)

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'a#"e 6: 7ank #y tota" num#er of indi8idua" 8iews of $andidate 8ideo on ou'u#eas of 12B23B0Candidate 7ank

.emo$rats-oe ;iden .$"2#$C.4Hillary %linton C C$>2#$44.%hris Dodd 4 423$C2>-ohn 0d ards ! C$2C $4 >RDennis 1ucinich > .$C .$"C3;ara$k /#ama 1 6 230 6 1;ill +ichardson 3 222$3427epu#"i$ans+udy Giuliani > .$!#"$244Ei'e Huc'abee ! C$32.$ C#-ohn Ec%ain 2>"$. "7on !au" 1 41 625Eitt +omney C C$!"C$ C#,red Thompson 3 C.#$.CCR0d ards* (ou Tube numbers are li'ely inflated due to the fact that he runs his videoshoused on his ebsite through (ou Tube$ thus generating more hits) Bbama and %lintonuse their o n video streaming soft are rather than (ou Tube)

;arac' Bbama and +on Paul are once again the clear inners in the (ou Tube

vie ing category$ follo ed far behind by top tier of their party) In Bbama*s case$ he is

ithin this top tier as ell$ but Paul is still in single digits in the national and state ide

polls)

And ho has the most friends on EySpace Tables 4 and # list the number of

EySpace friends up to the ee' of .!?!C?"4) Again$ there are no surprises here) Bbama

and Paul dominate their competition) ;oth of them have created very strong net or's of

supporters on EySpace$ and both have used this community in their fundraising efforts)

Perhaps the finding of most interest in this comparison is the lac' of activity for most

+epublicans in this capacity$ particularly by Giuliani) Bne of the stories of the !""#campaign may be hat candidates did not ta'e advantage of in terms of ne media and

ho it may have hurt their campaign)

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Table 4@ EySpace ,riends Among Democrats

Candidate FB > $hange 'ota" num#er friendsBbama ")4 !"!$#C!%linton ")4 . !$>CC0d ards ")> >2$ C.1ucinich ") C $4.4+ichardson "). !"$3.>;iden ")! . $..#Gravel .)" ..$4.Dodd ") 2$. 3

Table #@ EySpace ,riends Among +epublicansCandidate FB > $hange 'ota" num#er friends

Paul C) .".$4 2Ec%ain "). >"$.".+omney !)3 C!$.CCHuc'abee #)! .2$"CC,) Thompson ")3 .C$!".Giuliani ")2 2$#C>Hunter "). 4$.2.

Bne thing I have noticed in my examination of ne media and the campaigns is

that the Internet campaign is 7ust as dynamic as the traditional campaign$ if not more so)

8e 'no immediately if a candidate*s blog bu&& drops) 8e can analy&e ithin moments

ith very little difficulty) I ould venture that the blogosphere is very sensitive to

changes in the dynamics of the race$ 7ust as :uic' to 7udge as the traditional media$ and

7ust as li'ely to ma'e mista'es or set expectations$ and so forth) 8hile e may benefit

from a more varied chorus of voices$ bloggers$ particularly those ho become notables$

are li'ely to fall into the same types of behaviors as traditional 7ournalists) As advertisers

move onto the eb even more$ bloggers may become more concerned ith audience

numbers and this may affect the nature of their 5reporting6) 8e may see more

manipulation of information) Eore astro turfing of the blogosphere as ell as campaigns

and their supporters attempt to create bu&& that feels li'e grassroots support but is

manufactured) 8e have already seen a bit of this on (ou Tube and EySpace as

C"

http://www.myspace.com/barackobamahttp://www.myspace.com/hillaryclintonhttp://www.myspace.com/johnedwardshttp://www.myspace.com/denniskucinichhttp://www.myspace.com/richardsonforpresidenthttp://www.myspace.com/bidenforpresidenthttp://myspace.com/mikegravelforpresidenthttp://www.myspace.com/senatordoddhttp://www.myspace.com/RonPaul2008http://www.myspace.com/johnmccainhttp://www.myspace.com/mittromneyhttp://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=147698148http://www.myspace.com/freddthompson08http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=95972433http://www.myspace.com/duncanhunterhttp://www.myspace.com/barackobamahttp://www.myspace.com/hillaryclintonhttp://www.myspace.com/johnedwardshttp://www.myspace.com/denniskucinichhttp://www.myspace.com/richardsonforpresidenthttp://www.myspace.com/bidenforpresidenthttp://myspace.com/mikegravelforpresidenthttp://www.myspace.com/senatordoddhttp://www.myspace.com/RonPaul2008http://www.myspace.com/johnmccainhttp://www.myspace.com/mittromneyhttp://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=147698148http://www.myspace.com/freddthompson08http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=95972433http://www.myspace.com/duncanhunter


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campaigns planted material that had the appearance of coming from an individual as

really associated ith the campaign)

-oing Negati8e on the Internet&

So far$ I have examined and discussed most of the positive ays in hich

candidates have utili&ed the ne media available to them) ;ut much of this analysis has

been focused on hat has happened so far in the !""# presidential nomination campaign)

As e move into Io a and /e Hampshire$ the sta'es are raised$ particularly among the

top tier as both Democratic and +epublican races have narro ed and are among the most

competitive e have seen$ particularly among the +epublicans) So no e are li'ely to

see candidates use their ne media for purposes other than putting forth and managing

their message$ mobili&ing voters and so on) And a recent ne s article released by A;% /e s suggests that that time is very close at hand)

According to A;% /e s$ %linton*s campaign has registered the names of t o

eb sites ith the goal of using them to attach her chief rival$ ;arac' Bbama) The t o

names are Motingpresent)com and Motingpresent)org) They domains that are hosted by

the same IP address as the official %linton eb sites) 5Moting present6 is lin'ed to Sen)

Bbama*s having voted 5present6 on contentious or controversial issues hile an Illinois

state legislator) Bbama*s campaign is already on the defense and offense simultaneously

in response to this information) ;ut it is li'ely a suggestion of things to come) 8ith the

calendar being so frontloaded$ the ne media allo candidates to disseminate

information very :uic'ly$ both in response to attac's launched at them and attac's they

launch at their opponents) As the traditional media become more eb savvy$ and

bloggers and interest groups focus their attention on candidates ho go negative$ it is

li'ely that consumers of the information ill have ade:uate analysis as to the veracity of

the attac's and those ho attempt to use the vast space of the Internet to hide or obscure a

lin'age to these attac's are li'ely to be th arted as more and more information is

available) The prior example is a good case) As soon as the ne s bro'e via A;%$ it as

on the ,uffington Post


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+o what does this a"" mean&

Political campaigns are changing) /ot fundamentally$ as politics is all about

connecting ith people$ persuading them that you can lead 9 that you are experienced

and that you care about hat those ho support you care about) %ampaigns have al ays

been about persuading the public 9 ma'ing them li'e you and respect you simultaneously$

and giving you their trust) In our early history$ politics as distant$ carried out by elites

ho barely spo'e to the masses) They didn*t really need to as not very many of the

masses could vote) As the vote expanded$ so did the ay campaigns ere conducted)

8illiam Henry Harrison as the first candidate to give a real pubic campaign speech)

And that as the beginning of persuading the electorate on a more personal note$ of

ma'ing them a part of your team$ of bringing them together to support your tic'et)Parties used to bring people together under one banner in a more personal ay) Then

came television$ suburbs$ and cars) Politics became more distant in nature and passive

outside of those ho became activists$ and their numbers relative to the greater

population ere small) So many people had to be reached that candidates made

television ads that they could cast over the vast landscape of electoral politics) /o e

are on the verge of ma'ing politics more personal again)

Bne of the implications of the ne est technological revolution as characteri&ed by

digital technologies$ primarily utili&ed through the internet$ that provide ne $ lo cost

channels for communication among candidates$ citi&ens$ groups and the government is

that social capital ill rise


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social net or' sites) %ampaigns ill$ to use -oe Trippi*s phrase 5open source6 their

operations to give supporters a feeling of influence$ at least parts of the campaign) This

may be the manner in hich individuals become more closely attached to candidates)

Some candidates have already made inroads in utili&ing ne media to generate

support for their campaigns ith the extra outcome of creating real follo ings$ ith

individuals connected to each other through the campaign) Eeetups are one example of

ne media tools that create such social capital and are no far easier to organi&e and

manage) Another example are social net or'ing tools such as ,aceboo' and EySpace$ if

used properly) There is no doubt that candidates can effectively use these tools to

generate interest$ mobili&e support$ raise money$ raise issues$ and so on) There is no

doubt that the Internet ill continue to expand its reach and that more and more people

ill utili&e it for learning$ entertainment$ and politic'ing) So far the candidates hohave the resources and the interest have sho n that they can harness the potential of the

Internet) There are those ho ill be slo to adapt$ but li'e everything in politics$ there

is no doubt that they ill once they are convinced that it can matter to their campaign)

7eferen$es

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haynes - new media political campaigns 2008

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