CHARLOTTE -- With
less than four weeks to go until Election Day, candidates are reaching
out to potential voters in any way they can. In an attempt to target
younger voters, many have now moved their campaigns online.
Campaign Web sites are essential for any race, but now candidates are
expanding their Internet reach by targeting potential voters by using
the highly popular video Web site
YouTube. The site, which
was recently acquired by
Google,
allows visitors to post and view videos on the site with little
regulation.
“It’s
an instant medium,” said Dan Ramirez, a Republican candidate for
Mecklenburg County Commission who has posted traditional campaign ads on
the site. “It’s something a lot of people can see, a lot of people can
be reached that way.”
While
the medium allows candidates to campaign as they would in a television
or print ad, it also allows people to post attack ads without having to
claim authorship.
On the
local political front, there have been a series of attack videos posted
on YouTube targeting Commission Chair Parks Helms (D).
Helms, who is in his last campaign, said that he has never used the
Internet for campaigning, and doesn’t plan to start.
“I
think it also is an indication that there is desperation on the other
side,” said Helms. “They’re willing to say or do anything to achieve
their political purpose.”
Republican Commissioners denied having anything to do with the harsh
attack ads posted on the site.
YouTube
has become a growing political battleground as midterm elections draw
near. The site hosts videos posted by local and national politicians,
including several Congressional candidates.
“The
Internet is hot these days,” said UNC-Charlotte Professor Dr. Ted
Arrington. “Politicians don't want to let anything go undone. But
there's no evidence that it really affects voters that much.”
While
the Internet has succeeded in the past at building political buzz and
even raising campaign funds, a candidate’s success on the Web does not
always translate into success at the polls.
The archetype for gaining this type of Internet capital, only to have it
fail on Election Day, is likely Howard Dean. During his campaign to win
the 2004 Democratic presidential primary, Dean was able to raise
then-unheard-of amounts of campaign money from online-donors. However,
the out-spoken New Englander was unable to turn that money – and
Internet buzz – into success in the primary, losing to John Kerry.
More
recently, Senator Joe Lieberman (CT–D) lost this year’s Democratic
primary for his own Senate seat in large-part due to attacks from
political bloggers on the far left that were unhappy with Lieberman’s
support of the Iraq War. Despite his primary loss, the now Independent
Lieberman has built a sizeable lead in most polls on Democratic
challenger Ned Lamont and Republican challenger Alan Schlesinger.
Prof.
Arrington was quick to warn that a shift to Internet politics would
likely turn dirty because of the lack of restrictions and accountability
that is present in the medium.
'It's
democracy in action.” He said. “It's everybody saying whatever they
think they want to say, in an instrument that's totally irresponsible.
They're not responsible for anything they say.'
Election Day is Tuesday, November 7.
