Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
WASHINGTON, May 5 � Political campaigns have
traditionally provided a stage for the theater of
the absurd. Candidates are routinely made to
perform the equivalent of �stupid human tricks�
in the vain attempt to �connect� with voters.
Now the absurd becomes insane as politicians
begin �spamming� potential voters with
unwanted political junk e-mail.
WIRED CALIFORNIANS received a blast of
unwanted political e-mail recently in the form of what is
called an �electronic slate,� which is a plea for support from
a group of like-minded candidates. The idea behind the
�e-slate� comes from a group called Informed Voter
Network, which bills itself as a �full-service,
campaign-oriented, non-partisan voter contact service,� run
by Robert Barnes & Associates in California.
The Informed Voter Web site boasts: �We can provide
your campaign with a full Cyber strategy that will reach
millions of voters across the state of California and hundreds
of thousands within your own county.�
What the IVN doesn�t tell potential clients is that this
�e-slate� strategy also has a good chance to alienate millions
of potential voters and backfire at the ballot box.
CYBERPOLITICS ON THE ROPES
�While it is doubtful that any candidates will win a
campaign because of the Internet this year,� says Ken
Deutsch, vice president of Internet Strategic
Communications for Issue Dynamics, Inc., �it is clear that
some will lose because of it.�
�While it is
doubtful that any
candidates will win
a campaign
because of the
Internet this year,
it is clear that
some will lose
because of it.�
� KEN DEUTSCH
Issues Dynamics, Inc.
Deutsch knows his stuff. He was the first full-time paid
Internet political consultant; unpaid, he developed the first
major political party committee and candidate Internet sites
in 1994 for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.
He�s not pleased with where his efforts have led.
�Campaigns are about creating a message and image
that stays with voters on Election Day,� Deutsch says, �and
spam will leave a bad taste in voters mouths.�
Infamous online junk mail kings can afford to alienate
millions; a 1 percent return rate for their efforts can produce
enough cash flow that allows them to �float around in the
Bahamas on a yacht,� says Jonah Seiger, co-founder of
Mindshare Internet Campaigns. However, if a politician or
organization trying to gain support for an issue tries that and
ends up alienating 99 percent of the potential voters, �you
haven�t done anything to serve your ultimate objectives,�
Seiger says.
SPAM OR FREE SPEECH?
The Informed Voter Network didn�t respond to a
request for comment, but founder Robert Barnes told the
San Francisco Chronicle last month that the political
mailings weren�t spam because he wasn�t selling anything.
�We�re not trying to get you to buy anything,� Barnes told
the Chronicle. �This is political free speech,� he said.
Free speech, yes, but Barnes had to gin up some real
pretzel logic to make the statement that he�s not selling
anything. But selling is what a political campaign is all about.
The free-speech issue is a non-starter, says Seiger. �As
a politician, I�m trying to get people to like me and if I do
something I know they don�t like, regardless of whether it�s
legal or whether it�s protected by the First Amendment, if I
push them away, my objectives are lost,� says Seiger. �I am
in fact selling something: my ideas. I�m selling my brand, my
candidate�s brand,� he says.
VOTERS MIGRATING ONLINE
�As a politician,
I�m trying to get
people to like me
and if I do
something I know
they don�t like,
regardless of
whether it�s legal
or whether it�s
protected by the
First Amendment,
if I push them
away, my
objectives are
lost.�
� JONAH SEIGER
Mindshare Internet
Campaigns
Politicians who don�t wake up and begin to use the
online medium wisely are doomed. Recent studies show that
a large majority of registered voters also are �wired� and
are seeking political information from the web.
A survey by Field Poll of California voters found that
42 percent of some 14.3 million registered voters use e-mail
on a regular basis. And as other studies have shown, the
demographics of the Net are nearly a mirror image of
Americans not online, according to David Birdsell, who
co-authored the study for Lou Harris. That holds
tremendous potential to affect the political process. �It�s
very likely by the �98 elections, certainly by the 2000
elections, a majority of voters will be online,� Birdsell says.
The correct way to use the Net in the political process
is to cultivate a relationship with the voter over the long
term. That entails two key factors for any politician or
organization trying to grow a mailing list: notice and choice.
Any site soliciting a person�s participation should
provide notice on how that information will be used. Once
that has been established in no uncertain terms, the person
must be given the choice to receive relevant information via
e-mail.
At the Informed Voter site, you can �sign� the guest
book and leave a comment; However, you must supply
�notice� as
to what will happen to that information � but you can make
an educated guess how it will be used.
�It�s really important for someone trying to make a
good name with the public to be very up front with how
collect,� says Seiger.
Deutsch and Seiger each worry about the impact such
political spamming will have on voters as electronic
democracy tries to stretch its legs in the coming election
cycle. �I�m worried that these (spamming) tactics could
undermine the potential of the medium for politics by making
people feel like they are assaulted by political information,�
Seiger says.
Hey, it happened to television. Negative TV ads and
boring debates have only succeeded in making a cynical
population more so. If politicians succeed in doing the same
with cyberspace, they will have blown one of their last, best
shots at regaining some amount of respectability.
Meeks out�
--
Two rules in life:
1. Don't tell people everything you know.
2.
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