Campaigning in cyberspace

Internet emerges as critical medium for connection

By: Paul Petrone

Posted: 11/3/08

The Internet's pervasiveness has extended into the political arena, with Web sites, e-mail and Facebook being used as campaign tools.

By any measure, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has used the Internet significantly more than Republican cnadidate John McCain. The examples are endless. Obama has 475 linked sites on his Web site, 396 of them blogs, while McCain has 18 linked sites with no blogs, according to TechPresident.com.

Obama garners far more hits on YouTube than McCain, and performing a simple Google search reveals twice as many sites dedicated to Obama than McCain. Obama has also ventured out in other forms of new media, such as recently advertising in Xbox games and releasing a new iPhone application, according to epolitics.com.

"Obama kind of put the pieces together and formed a way to reach to the younger community," said Jeffrey Ladewig, an associate political science professor at UConn. "He's saying, 'I'm out there, I understand this, I am part of the new wave of the future.'"

Ladewig also contends that Obama's huge fund-raising success, with $150 million raised in September alone, has been due in large part to the Internet. Most of Obama's donations are submitted online, with most of the money coming from small donors, characterized as giving $250 or less, according to TechPresident.com.

"I think that one of the reasons Obama is so successful with the youth vote is his ability to master the Internet," said Lauren Ellis, president of the UConn College Democrats.

Jennifer Miller, president of the UConn College Republicans, feels that, while the Internet is good at reaching the youth vote, other, more traditional media outlets are superior at reaching people over 24, which is the majority of Americans.

She also notes that McCain's Web site is "very organized," complete with a graph comparing both candidates' stances on major issues, allowing the average person to see the differences between the two quickly and easily.

Ladewig states that the internet does allow for more ideas to get out, and with that lesser candidates get more attention as well. Maintaining a Web site is much cheaper than rallies and advertisements in newspapers and television, allowing for more diversity, he added.

The Internet is far from perfect however. Many false rumors, such as the allegations that Obama is a terrorist or distasteful practices, such as a recent pornographic movie with a Sarah Palin look-a-like, are spread through the Internet.

"There is less accountability on the Internet," said Russ Bratkmon, a 3rd-semester molecular and cell biology major. "If someone writes something on the Internet and it's wrong, so what, but if someone puts it in the paper, people will notice and make a big deal about it."

Ladewig agreed.

"It goes back to the dedication of the voter," he said. "Its up to the voter to be informed."

Ladewig does feel, however, that the Internet does make it "harder to distinguish between good and bad information."

On campus, it appears students use the internet as a source for politics, but they have their doubts about its accuracy as well.

"I prefer to stick with more traditional media," said Eli Pearlstein, a 5th-semester journalism and political science major, as he feels it is "more tangible. Meanwhile, there are so many sites that aren't reliable."

"It's just, the Internet is so broad - it can't all be true," added Sierra Ryan, a 5th-semester English major.

Social networking sites are also a source of online politicking, as students post articles and Youtube videos on their pages.

"[Other students] put links that I can look at," said Kaitlin Kennedy, a 7th-semester accounting major.

"I go on Facebook everyday, so it's easy."