IP: New (free) Publication: Campaign Web Review

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 12:27:10 -0400
To: farber () linc cis upenn edu
From: Jonah Seiger <jseiger () mindshare net>


Greetings:


How is the Internet being used by candidates in 1998? What's working? What's not?


In an effort to chronicle the impact of the Internet on the 1998 election cycle and to shed some light on how candidate 
campaigns are (for better or worse) using the Net as part of their campaign strategy, mindshare Internet Campaigns 
co-founders Shabbir Safdar and Jonah Seiger have joined with Prof. Michael Cornfield of the George Washington 
University Graduate School of Political Management to produce Campaign Web Review.


Campaign Web Review (CWR) is a free bi-weekly email and web-based newsletter.  The inaugural issue, covering the 
upcoming Georgia Governor's race (primary Tuesday 7.21) is attached below. You can also find it online at 


                    http://www.campaignwebreview.com/


If you like what you see, we hope you will subscribe. Details can be found at the site. Please also feel free to fwd 
this announcement.


A few notes about CWR:


This publication is intended as a 'labor of love' -- we have no plans to charge subscription fees or sell advertising 
space.  CWR will not review or discuss any campaign or candidate with which any of the editors have an affiliation or 
association, professional or otherwise.


Finally, please pardon the unsolicited invitation. We have sent this note to friends and colleagues only.  You will not 
receive any further announcements of CWR, but we do hope you will consider subscribing.


Best,


Jonah Seiger & Shabbir Safdar
co-founders, mindshare Internet Campaigns, LLC.


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  _____      _____                             
/ __\ \    / / _ \    CAMPAIGN WEB REVIEW 
| (__ \ \/\/ /|   /    A bi-weekly newsletter examining the use of the                         
\___| \_/\_/ |_|_\    Internet by political campaigns in 1998


    http://www.campaignwebreview.com/            July 20, 1998 | Issue 1.1
__________________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
    What is Campaign Web Review?
    Browsing the Georgia Governor's Race
    So where's the campaign?
    About Campaign Web Review / Unsubscribe information
__________________________________________________________________________
WHAT IS CAMPAIGN WEB REVIEW?


In an effort to chronicle the growth of the Internet as a political
communications medium, three leading experts in Internet campaign
strategies and political science have come together to produce Campaign
Web Review, a free, bi-weekly newsletter examining the use of the
Internet by political candidate and initiative campaigns in the 1998
election cycle.


Campaign Web Review will seek to highlight the ways candidates and
campaigns are using the Internet and provide perspective on the
positive (and negative) impact of the introduction of this powerful new
medium is having on the electoral process.


Every two weeks, Campaign Web Review will profile a congressional,
gubernatorial, initiative, or other statewide race for elective office
in which candidates and groups are using the Internet as part of their
campaign strategy. The goal? To promote a better understanding among
the press, candidates, political professionals, academics, and the
public of the growing importance of the Internet in politics. We also
hope to provide insight into the new techniques and methods that may
come with this new medium.


To learn more about Campaign Web Review, and to meet your editors,
Michael Cornfield, Shabbir J. Safdar, and Jonah Seiger  see:


               http://www.campaignwebreview.com/


__________________________________________________________________________
BROWSING THE GEORGIA GOVERNOR'S RACE


July 17, 1998


With the primary vote set for Tuesday July 21, the race to succeed the
popular Zell Miller as Georgia Governor has boiled down to two
candidates in each party.    Bidding to become the first Republican
Governor since Scarlett returned to Tara are Guy Millner and Michael
Bowers; the top Democratic candidates are Roy Barnes and Lewis Massey.
An early July survey of likely voters reported:


                  Democrats           Republicans
                Millner 58%            Barnes 40%
                 Bowers 21%            Massey 24%
              Undecided 12%         Undecided 24%


It's an open primary (voters may ask for either ballot at the polling
booth), and turnout is expected to be quite low.


That means the race will likely pivot on turnout and, perhaps,
cross-over voters. In this kind of environment, every asset counts,
including the ways the candidates use the Internet to mobilize hardcore
supporters and convince their faithful to stay in the party.


How'd they do? We review the top campaign sites...


       http://www.campaignwebreview.com/issues/17071998-3.shtml


__________________________________________________________________________
SO WHERE'S THE CAMPAIGN?


It can be extremely difficult for even the most civic minded citizen to 
make sense of the political landscape. Consider that in the 1998 
California Primary:


There were 87 statewide candidates, nine ballot initiatives, and too
many special district and local races to count.  This year, for the
first time, candidate races were even more complicated because of the
new "blanket primary" in which all names appeared on a universal
ballot, regardless of the candidates' and voters' party affiliation (or
lack thereof).


The California electorate is so huge that State Senators represent more
people than U.S.  Representatives. To reach voters, campaigners in
California have to rely almost exclusively on the media.


The four major candidates for Governor, the three major candidates for
the U.S. Senate, and the big-budget initiative campaigns bought up most
of the available television ad space. The CBS affiliates in Los Angeles
and San Francisco refused to sell time to statewide candidates other
than for Governor and U.S.  Senator.


This situation led Robert M. Stern, former general counsel of 
the state1s Fair Political Practices Commission, to wonder aloud to Dan 
Morain of the Los Angeles Times (May 30, 1998):


   The real question is how do you campaign in this state. The irony is
   that TV is not covering the campaigns in their news, and the
   candidates can't buy TV time. So where's the campaign?


Where, indeed?


More of it should have been online. 


          http://www.campaignwebreview.com/issues/04061998.shtml
__________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT CAMPAIGN WEB REVIEW / UNSUBSCRIBE INFORMATION


Campaign Web Review is published bi-weekly at
http://www.campaignwebreview.com and on the announcement-only email list,
cwr () campaignwebreview com.  To unsubscribe from cwr () campaignwebreview com,
send an email message to majordomo () campaignwebreview com with


    unsubscribe cwr 


in the body of the message.  To subscribe, visit our site.
__________________________________________________________________________
end cwr () campaignwebreview com 07.20.1998
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