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Campaigins: Third Party Candidates Make Connections Online |
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Friday, 11 August 2006 |
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National Journal
August 10,2006
Andrew Noyes
Most of Maryland is asleep, but Kevin Zeese is roaming the aisles of Baltimore's 24-hour supermarkets with a band of supporters whom the third-party candidate for U.S. Senate recruited via e-mail. While his late-night canvassing strategy may be unconventional, his online recruiting skills are noteworthy. The supporters are out at midnight, after all.
Zeese, the Green, Libertarian and Populist parties' pick for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Paul Sarbanes, has embraced the Internet since its inception and has become an exemplar for independents in the metropolitan area. Green Party Media Coordinator Scott McLarty said Zeese is "doing pretty well, but it's an uphill battle."
"The U.S. Senate is a nut the Green Party has not been able to crack yet," McLarty said.
Zeese, the Montgomery County, Md., reformer who once served as Ralph Nader's presidential campaign spokesman, credits the Internet with helping third-party candidates have a platform for national debate. His years of advocacy for legalizing drugs and against war have profited from the Internet's reach, and now his campaign is the beneficiary.
Nader, a Green Party luminary who thrice ran for president, saw the Internet's potential early in his national political career -- even though he still uses a Smith Corona typewriter for daily correspondence, Zeese said. The medium "levels the playing field" and "brings people together," he said.
Zeese uses various tools -- including three tiers of e-mail lists, short Web videos and a campaign "wiki" that lets users contribute and edit content -- to share views on his core issues of "peace, justice, democracy and prosperity."
Libertarian candidates have made unique uses of the Web this year, party communications director Stephen Gordon said.
Standup comedian Doug Stanhope announced his bid for the party's 2008 presidential nomination on MySpace, and Arizona gubernatorial candidate Barry Hess garnered praise for featuring video, a Web log and interactivity prominently on his site. Loretta Nall, who is running for Alabama governor, has raised eyebrows with online animation that lets site visitors glimpse the candidate's cleavage or waistline in exchange for donations.
The party recently unveiled BallotBase.org, a new voter-outreach tool that allows leadership to target specific races, Gordon said. The initiative will not be formally launched until September, but it was piloted in the special election for the California House seat vacated by now-imprisoned Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, a Republican.
Libertarian Paul King, who challenged now-GOP Rep. Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francine Busby, saw his votes triple with the help of BallotBase, the party said. Few privacy concerns have been raised because data is culled from state voter-registration lists, Gordon said.
"Somebody with a message that resonates can catch on," said Carol Darr, director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University.
Breakout campaigns by wrestler-turned-governor Jesse Ventura in Minnesota and former presidential candidates Howard Dean and John McCain have shown that Americans are increasingly "unhappy with mainstream choices," she said. The Web is a "perfect vehicle" for third-party candidates and others to find like-minded people "quickly, easily and cheaply."
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