Candidates not yet savvy to youth vote: survey

Mar 9, 2007 — BOSTON (Reuters) - Politicians failed to tap the youth vote even after record turnout in the 2004 U.S. presidential election and will need the Internet to draw this block, a Harvard University survey showed on Friday.

Young Americans were largely ignored by political campaigns during the 2006 congressional election, but their ballots helped decide two tight U.S. Senate races for Democrats, said John Della Volpe, polling director at Harvard's Institute of Politics.

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Coming Soon: The Official Elizabeth Kucinich Myspace page.

According to the unofficial Kucinich Myspace, Dennis and Elizabeth will be launching official Myspace pages. The Elizabeth page could add some personality to the campaign.

Local campaigns move to Facebook, MySpace

Peter Clerkin was curious.

Clerkin, former campaign director of the Hayhurst for Congress campaign, created “Draft Hayhurst,” a group on Facebook.com that urged voters to encourage City Councilman Tom Hayhurst, D-4th District, to run for mayor.

Hayhurst ran unsuccessfully for the 3rd District congressional seat in November.

Clerkin, 26, said the group was not a serious attempt to persuade Hayhurst to run for office, but was an experiment to gauge the effectiveness of a political group on Facebook, a social-networking site best known for connecting college students. The group was only up one day, but attracted about 80 members before Clerkin was informed Hayhurst had no intention of running and took down the group. Still, he said he will most likely include a group in the campaign strategy of the next candidate he works for.

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Mike Huckabee Excited about 400 Myspace Friends

From the Huckabee Myspace Blog
"Keep spreading the word and telling your friends to sign up and show their support for Mike! Let's see how fast we can get to 500 and then on to 1,000!"

They have a long way to go to compete against Clinton, Obama & Edwards

Myspace Weekend Roundup 2.18.07

Democrats
Obama doubles Clinton (42,703 - 23,425)
Clinton doubles Edwards (23,425 - 11,595)

Republicans
Ron Paul maintains his lead 2501
Romney, Giuliani and Romney in practically a 3 way tie for 2nd

Presidential candidates ramp up web presence dramatically

WASHINGTON — Day one for presidential campaigns used to be a hay barn in Iowa or an over-stuffed couch in New Hampshire.

But this year, even before many of the 2008 presidential hopefuls hit the trail in earnest, they are networking with high-profile bloggers and cadres of eager college students with sprawling online social networks.

These web political junkies and "netroots" activists will be the field generals for a new type of presidential campaign, and the most web-savvy candidates have tailored their campaign sites to meet the needs of the new generation.

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The MySpace Primary

WASHINGTON - The Internet has emerged as a key battleground in the nascent 2008 presidential contest, earning a place alongside hotspots like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

Call it the MySpace Primary.

Democratic and Republican candidates are pouring more resources than ever into reaching voters, organizing supporters and raising money online, transforming the way presidential campaigns are waged.

"We're entering a different era of political communication, and no one is an expert at it yet. The velocity of change is extraordinary," said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network, a group that teaches candidates to harness the Web. "Everyone is experimenting online, because we don't know yet what will work."

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PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN 2008: Candidates weave the Web

WASHINGTON -- Call it the MySpace Primary. The Internet has emerged as a key battleground in the nascent 2008 presidential contest.

Democratic and Republican candidates are pouring more resources than ever into reaching voters, organizing supporters and raising money online, transforming the way presidential campaigns are waged.

"We're entering a different era of political communication, and no one is an expert at it yet. The velocity of change is extraordinary," said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network, a group that teaches candidates to harness the Web. "Everyone is experimenting online, because we don't know yet what will work."

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Social Networking Specific Content

I would really like to see the Candidates start creating content specifically for Myspace and Facebook. It seems like most of the content shared on these networks is just recycled press releases, or footage on YouTube from their last TV appearance.

Some Ideas
-30 second candidate web promos made specifically for Myspace/Facebook.
-A Myspace or Facebook Challenge like Create your own Candidate 2008 video/banner promo. Winner gets the video featured on the Candidate's Myspace/Facebook.
-Behind the Scenes blogging(Myspace/Facebook). It would focus not so much on the issues but more of a behind the scenes look at the campaign. A documentary of the campaign experience, or what it's like to work or be an intern on the Campaign. Etc.

Myspace Roundup 2.15.2006

Democrats
John Edwards seems to be shrinking losing 8 friends on Myspace from Wed (11,350) to Thur (11,342)
Hillary and Obama still the biggest gainers.

Republicans
Biggest gainer was definetly Rudy Giuliani jumping over John McCain into second place with a gain of 149 friends.

Sam Brownback declares his candidacy but how does he rank online?

Online Connectivity Report Card

Website - www.brownback.com

Negatives
-No RSS Feeds to the News
-Only 2 Videos (which load slowly)
-No Links Section
-No Media Pictures

Positives
-Easy to Navigate
-Easy to Contribute Money
-Easy to Join the Mailing List

Social Networks
Myspace
Only 704 friends and the Brownback Myspace profile doesnt show up properly on my browser.

Facebook
2,613 friends and currently very active. Run by the Students for Sam Brownback Organization. The Brownback campaign should just hire the www.studentsforbrownback.org/ to promote, recruit & organize the College Students.

No Friendster
No Hi5
No Livejournal
No Tagworld
No Bebo







Overall his online presence is pretty weak. If he is serious about running for President he is going to have to revamp his internet strategy.

Myspace vs USA Today/Gallup

USA Today/Gallup

Feb 9-11	Gallup	Myspace
Republicans
Rudy Giuliani	57	1215
John McCain	39	1302
Mitt Romney	5	217
Democrats
Hillary Clinton	40	22230
Barack Obama	21	39527
John Edwards	13	11349