The Internet is proving to be an essential part of candidates’ strategies in the Wisconsin primary this year as a tool for gaining candidate support and encouraging voter turnout; however, the Internet is not at the point where it can be solely relied on as the main information provider.
It has been used by Senators Kerry and Edwards, General Clark and Governor Dean, each of whom has a campaign website.
“The Internet is different, because it’s something you have to seek out on your own … [and] once you look for it, it’s much more useful than a TV ad,” Shira Roza, chair of Students for Dean, said.
The candidates’ websites are easy to maneuver and include their positions on a variety of issues important to voters, including the economy and jobs, healthcare, education, foreign policy and homeland security.
The Internet also serves as an interactive medium that enables voters to participate in the campaign process without leaving their homes or offices. Voters have endless resources and tools at their fingertips, and candidates’ websites enable them to instantly send e-mails or postcards and to print labels, sign-up sheets and posters. Users can also download fact sheets, the candidates’ talking points and opposition research.
“The website is a really good resource for educating people about issues,” Don Eggert, co-chair of Students for Kerry, said.
The Internet also helps voters connect with people who support similar issues.
“I’ve actually met a lot of people through Edwards’ website,” Tony Larsen, a volunteer for Students for Edwards, said. “I get e-mails from him every day keeping me updated and asking for support.”
Blogs are another way for voters to keep up with the candidates’ campaigns online. They act as a national dialogue aimed at attracting supporters, organizing them and raising money.
“It’s an online journal,” Roza said. “It’s a way for people who can’t follow Dean around the country to stay up-to-date with the grassroots component of everything.”
All of the candidates, particularly Dean, use the Internet for fundraising.
Eggert believes the Internet has changed the face of politics.
“I think the primary way it has changed politics is that it makes it a lot easier to communicate with voters,” he said. “It is making candidates and campaigns more accessible to regular people.”
Volunteers like Eggert and Larsen believe the Internet is extremely effective in getting more people involved with the campaigns and with politics in general.
“It provides information to people who wouldn’t normally be into politics,” Larsen said. “I think the Internet is mainstreaming politics and getting people interested. We need younger voter turnout and the Internet is the new age.”
Adam Diedrich, co-chair of Students for Clark, said the Internet is extremely convenient and easy in terms of publicizing events and arranging meetings. This election year, candidates have invested significant resources into their Internet campaigns. The effectiveness of the Internet in getting supporters to the polls, however, remains uncertain.
“I don’t think we’re at the point where you can rely on Internet strategy,” Eggert said.