Virtually revealing
Presidential candidates' Web sites reflect the strengths and weirdnesses of
each challenger
by Dan Kennedy
Eight years ago, presidential candidates didn't have Web sites. Four years ago,
e-campaigning was still something of a novelty. In 2000, though, the Internet
is a crucial electoral battleground.
All the major-party candidates -- six Republicans, two Democrats -- have a
significant presence on the World Wide Web. Each offers extensive archives of
speeches, issue papers, press releases, and, in most cases, video and audio
clips. Taking a page from Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, whose Net presence
was crucial to the success of his surprise 1998 victory, each candidate is
using the Internet as an organizing tool as well: visitors can make online
contributions, volunteer, or simply sign up to receive regular campaign
updates.
But there is another, harder-to-quantify dimension to these political Web
sites. And that is how each site reflects, in some telling way, the character
of the candidate behind it. Al Gore's site panders desperately, for instance,
and Orrin Hatch's is loopy in kind of a charmingly off-kilter way. Just like
the contenders themselves.
So take a look for yourself. And let the downloading begin.
Democrats
Bill Bradley the candidate is big, slow-moving, and utterly convinced
that whatever coma-inducing topic he's addressing at the moment will hold his
audience in rapt awe. Likewise, his Web site is enormous, slow-loading, and
filled with updates on such less-than-gripping moments as a recent talk he gave
to fourth-graders in Iowa on how his health-care plan will keep kids from
smoking. (Note to Republicans: Bradley mainly proposes the vigorous application
of tax money.)
There's a lengthy biography of Bradley in both English and Spanish, sprinkled
with excerpts from his three books, Values of the Game (1998), Time
Present, Time Past (1996), and Life on the Run (1976). There's also
a separate sign-up section for the media, although the Bradley campaign wants
you to know that it has no intention of coddling reporters: "We do not
intend, in any way, to exclude any information from Bradley web site visitors
who are not members of the press."
My favorite section, though, is the downloadable "Bill Bradley Dinner Party
Kit," instructions on how to bring your friends aboard the Bradley express. The
theory, apparently, is that if you grab them by the stomach, their hearts and
minds will follow. The Dinner Party Kit begins with this helpful suggestion:
"Plan a dinner party (it doesn't have to be difficult)."
So eager for outside validation is Gore that his site's home page begins
not with a message from the vice-president, but, rather, with a link to a David
Broder column in the Washington Post. The headline: GORE HAS TURNED THE
CORNER IN HIS QUEST FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION. Indeed, in contrast to the
introverted egocentrism of Bradley's site, Gore's is almost pathologically
reach-out-and-touch-someone. Here is Ted Kennedy's endorsement statement. There
are Environmental Voters for Gore, led by Robert Kennedy Jr. Over here is a
video of Dick Gephardt stumping for the vice-president. Over there is "Town
Hall," comments from Web-site visitors with the general theme of "thank you for
being so wonderful."
One of Gore's biggest challenges has been to find a way to take credit for the
Clinton administration's economic successes without making potential supporters
think about oral sex (or adulterous oral sex, anyway). So in an 11-minute
video, bracketed by treacly music and by images of Carthage, the small
Tennessee town where Gore didn't grow up, we see Bill Clinton talking about how
crucial Gore has been to his presidency -- followed immediately by Tipper Gore
talking about what an incredibly great marriage she and Al have.
Just about all the candidates have pop-up windows that let you easily make a
donation, which points up another crucial difference between the Bradley and
Gore Web sites. Bradley's window offers three choices: "Contribute Now!", "No
Thanks," or "Remind Me Later." Gore's offers just two: "Check" or "Credit
Card."
Web of politics
Obviously, you don't have to go to the candidates' own Web sites to find
political news on the Internet. The online editions of the New York Times
http://www.nytimes. com), the Washington Post
(http://www. washingtonpost.com), and the Los Angeles Times
(http://www.latimes. com), to name three, have excellent political archives.
The Net publications Slate (http://www.slate.com) and Salon
(http://www.salon.com) offer extensive lists of campaign-news links.
Three less-well-known sites are worthy of special mention.
Politics.com
http://www.politics.com
Formerly known as the Political Junkie, Politics.com is the one essential site,
since its enormous database of links and resources will eventually lead you to
everything else. The site offers news links, polls, candidate profiles, and
tons of data on financial contributions. All this is offered up with a
refreshingly cheeky attitude -- such as this item, which appeared one day last
week: "Leonard Nimoy has given $1,000 to the most Spock-like candidate: Bill
Bradley." A highlight is a little animation called "Watch the Pile Grow!", a
constantly updated estimate of how much money has been raised at the national,
state, and local levels, based on Federal Election Commission projections. Last
week it was at $760 million and counting.
Freedom Channel
http://www.freedomchannel.com
A project of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Freedom Channel has
posted an extensive video archive of all the candidates addressing a wide range
of issues. The Freedom Channel's definition of all the candidates, by
the way, is pretty wide-ranging. The Democrats, in addition to Al Gore and Bill
Bradley, include perennial favorite Lyndon LaRouche, who pronounces himself
"one of the three leading candidates" -- a major dis to yet a fourth candidate,
Dr. Heather Anne Harder, who's also here. Never heard of her? Shame on you.
This, after all, is her second presidential campaign.
PrimaryScoop.com
http://www.primaryscoop.com
If it involves the New Hampshire primary, you'll find it on PrimaryScoop.com, a
site lovingly maintained by Republican political consultant Chip Griffin, who's
based in Concord, New Hampshire. Griffin's obsession is the media and what
they're saying. Thus, PrimaryScoop.com is the ideal place to go to get a fix on
campaign coverage if you're not inclined to visit a couple dozen news sites on
your own. Though the focus has been on New Hampshire, Griffin says he's going
to keep going after February 1, reorienting his site so that it will have
more of a national focus. "We're not going to give up a good thing," he says.
Good thing.
-- DK
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Republicans
Critics of George W. Bush the candidate suggest that there's not much
beneath the attractive surface. So it is with CyberBush, too. His Web site
looks good: it's well organized and professional-looking, inviting you to
explore deeper. But there's not a whole lot to explore. Call up his bio, for
instance, and in place of the dense profiles offered by other candidates, you
get family pictures and captions. Here he is around age 10 or 11, in a baseball
uniform. "I never dreamed about being president," reads the text. "When I was
growing up, I wanted to be Willie Mays."
Oddly enough, there's no video on the Bush site, although there is plenty of
audio. These audio clips, with text transcripts, give Bush a chance to address
the criticism that there's not a whole lot of "there" there. Unfortunately,
Bush doesn't fully rise to the challenge. Take, for instance, his initiative on
"abstinence education." It consists of exactly two notions: to spend "at least
as much on abstinence education as on teen contraception programs" (at least
he's not proposing to do away with such programs), and to let "faith-based
organizations" compete for federal grants to teach abstinence.
The man with the $60 million war chest has been rapped for making it
difficult to find out who contributed what, but I rather like the Bush site's
simple search engine. Entering "Cellucci" and "Massachusetts," I immediately
learned that Argeo R. Cellucci, of Hudson (Governor Paul Cellucci's
father), gave $100 last September 16. Neither Democrat offers anything so
convenient.
Online John is as dependent on free media as the candidate himself. The
first thing you see when you log on is a reproduction of a glowing cover
profile in Time magazine titled "The Real McCain." There's also a recent
piece by one of McCain's most admiring fans, Boston Globe columnist
David Nyhan, headlined JOHN MCCAIN IS TAKING A BAD RAP. In the column, Nyhan
attempts to debunk his Globe colleague Walter Robinson, who's reported
on some questionable dealings McCain has had with the Federal Communications
Commission on behalf of a campaign contributor. Two observations: Nyhan's name
is misspelled, which is pretty funny when you think about how ardently he's has
been carrying McCain's water; and, rather than link to the Globe's site,
McCain's campaign simply reproduces the Nyhan column, in clear violation of
federal copyright law.
Well, McCain always concedes he's a flawed human being.
Not that McCain isn't taking the FCC thing seriously. The site includes an
elaborate denial of accusations that he improperly attempted to muscle the FCC,
including copies of many of the letters he sent to that agency.
The principal theme, though, is his military service, complete with videos of
the explosion aboard the USS Forrestal that he survived and his
harrowing internment in a North Vietnamese POW camp.
When he's out on the campaign trail or debating his rivals, hereditary
zillionaire and suspected space alien Steve Forbes always acts as if he'd be
much happier if he didn't actually have to meet people face to face. Well,
thanks to the Steve Forbes 2000 National Online Headquarters -- motto: "He
Wants You To Win" -- he doesn't have to.
The Forbes campaign may be slipping out of sight, but its electronic equivalent
is truly an awesome thing. There's so much there that it's hard to get a grasp
on it, but my favorite is "Your Personal Control Panel," where you can watch
Forbes deliver video messages on taxes, Social Security, health care, and
education. There's just something about the ultra-stiff Forbes, sitting in his
living room in a dark suit and tie with a half-smile, saying of the Internal
Revenue Service: "Take this monster, kill it, drive a stake through its heart,
bury it, and hope it never rises again to terrorize the American people."
Forbes betrays his roots as a magazine publisher in a section titled "Lead an
e-Precinct," where volunteers are invited to "compete with other e-Precinct
leaders for national recognition, awards, and prizes." Sounds like the
propaganda that Publishers Clearinghouse foists on unsuspecting schoolchildren.
No mention of whether winners get a secret decoder ring.
At the Republican debates, three of the fringe candidates -- Forbes,
Alan Keyes, and Orrin Hatch -- make it clear that they are running to win,
blissfully unaware that they have no chance. Gary Bauer, being made of shrewder
stuff, has a much more attainable goal: the former Reagan adviser is running
for recognition as the pre-eminent figure on the religious right now that Pat
Robertson's Christian Coalition is in tatters. On the Web, Bauer emphasizes his
background as the head of the Family Research Council and the Campaign for
Working Families, credentials that may repel the average voter, but that are
sure to impress his intended audience.
Bauer hasn't gotten much in the way of media recognition for his efforts. One
mention he cites excitedly is this tidbit from the Manchester Union
Leader of January 22, 1999: "Bauer made it clear if he does run,
people will know where he stands and where he will lead the country." Kind of
like a restaurant review that says if you pay them money they will bring you
food, but Bauer probably figured what the hell (oops, I mean heck), at least
the UL spelled his name right.
The religious right has always demonized Clinton with a fury that's bewildering
for its incandescence, and Bauer is no exception. He blames the president for
-- I'm not making this up -- the growth of the "pornography industry" and the
"increasing boldness" of the "worldwide sexual slave trade." Who knew?
You may have heard that various online polls show Alan Keyes is winning
the Republican debates. Even after factoring in his obvious eloquence and
intelligence, you may have wondered -- given his wacky views -- why?
Here's why. On Keyes's Web site is a page with links to every online survey the
campaign could find -- 24 in all. It's accompanied by this message: "With your
help we can use our grass roots power to make sure that Alan Keyes wins EVERY
online presidential poll over the next two years. Please vote only
once . . . " The effort has obviously worked. On Keyes's
special New Hampshire Web site is the headline KEYES WINS ALL 4 MAJOR
PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES. And it's true, it's true! Fifty percent of respondents to
Dick Morris's Vote.com, for instance, said that Keyes won the January 10
debate in Iowa, followed by 34 percent for Bush and 10 percent for
McCain. Other surveys show similar results.
So much for the accuracy of online polls -- unless you believe, as Keyes does,
that he would be winning if it weren't for the media's determination to "keep
the black out."
Keyes lists no coming events after January 24, the date of the Iowa
caucuses. Perhaps that means someone at Keyes Central has a grip on reality --
even if that person isn't the candidate himself.
Even those who remember Orrin Hatch's exhaustive 1991 review of the
pubic hair on Clarence Thomas's Coke can couldn't have been prepared for the
sheer weirdness of Hatch's presidential campaign. This is a US senator, for
crying out loud. Yet he often seems -- as Don Imus has helpfully observed -- as
though he just landed from Mars. One of the flashing messages on his home page
reads, "The new millennium dawns on a miracle moment for America." It's Hatch
in a, uh, nutshell: vaguely inspiring, yet completely nonsensical.
Hatch at least deserves credit for refusing to underestimate his audience. The
centerpiece of his Web site is a 28-minute video (that's 7.2 megabytes)
in which he drones on and on -- and on -- about why he's running for president,
even though no one outside his immediate family has any intention of voting for
him. But it gets better. While I was listening to him tell me that "this will
not be one of those hyped-up political productions we've all become used to," a
send-Hatch-money window popped up.
As Hatch continued to talk in the background, a schlock Dixieland tune kicked
in, with someone singing, "Just one little check for 36 bucks will help the
Hatch campaign so much," a reference to Hatch's goal of raising $36 apiece from
a million people. This was accompanied by a logo of something called a
"Skinnycat," which is, I guess, how someone with no sense of humor or irony
parodies the "fat cats" who've been funding the Bush campaign.
And why would you send Hatch $36? Well, did you know that "dietary supplements
have no stronger champion in Congress than Senator Orrin Hatch"?
I thought not.
Dan Kennedy can be reached at dkennedy[a]phx.com.
Articles from July 24, 1997 & before can be accessed here