Monday, April 16, 2007
The Internet has become a central aspect of our political campaign system
SHREVEPORT TIMES
BY JOHN HILL
(excerpt)
BATON ROUGE -- When U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal decided to announce his campaign for governor last fall, he chose to do so in e-mail to his core supporters.
The Republican front-runner in the fall governor's race has also used e-mail direct appeals to raise some $5 million for his campaign.
The use of the Internet is shifting politics into a rapid-fire world of e-mail and blogs.
"It has gone from (standing) to more than 60 mph in a few short years," said Lee Rainer, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project of the Pew Research Center, the Washington, D.C., media research company.
"The Louisiana situation is very much in the mainstream as far as what's happening in the rest of the country," Rainer said. "More is the operative word."
A 2006 Pew project study shows that the number of Americans who listed the Internet as their primary source of political news grew from 7 percent in 2002 to 15 percent in 2006.
"The Internet has become a central aspect of our political campaign system," Rainer said.
(Former Senator) Breaux, who first ran for Congress from southwest Louisiana in 1972, said he's noticed that both political parties use the Internet in particular for negative campaigning.
"Republicans so far have focused on the Internet Web sites to carry their messages out. In some cases, Democrats have used the same technique, though it is clear they haven't done it to the same degree."
LSU mass communications professor Bob Mann said the Internet is the new frontier of politics.
"You could call it the wild, wild west because there is a lot of prospecting and innovation going on," Mann said."There are not many candidates who have mastered the use of the Internet."
CARTOON BY REVOLUTIONARY RASCAL
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Labels: BREAUX, GOVERNOR, JINDAL, LOUISIANA, POLITICS
