The AP has an interesting, if somewhat myopic, article about how presidential candidates from both parties are bolstering their internet operations and developing strategies to leverage online funds. Email and online fundraising ability are generally being mistaken for having strong internet operations and grassroots organizing and social networking is diminished in importance by many of the advisers quoted in the piece.
McCain is being touted as the top Republican online organizer, which seems to be like saying that the egg came before the chicken, as he is the presumed Republican nominee. In fact, McCain has many opponents in the Republican blogosphere and I wouldn’t hand him any titles for online organizing just yet – email isn’t the internet, it’s one part of it.
Republicans have mastered e-mail as the new form of direct-mail campaigns, raising money and pushing a GOP message. Democrats have excelled at raising cash through small-scale donations and making the Net their version of talk radio.
“You have an inexpensive way to have a conversation with people with the propensity to turn out and vote,” said Rick Davis, a McCain adviser who managed the Arizona Republican’s 2000 presidential campaign.
In that race, McCain predicted that “in the next few years the Internet will completely turn political campaigns upside down.”
McCain, the potential front-runner for the 2008 GOP nomination, is among the most tech-savvy could-be White House candidates today. He has retained many hands from his 2000 bid and has recruited some of the top names in online campaigning.
Something to say?
