Taxpayers For Truth

I just read Dimmy's post on how it seems like official Congressional websites are almost guaranteed to be better than Congressional campaign websites. I never thought about it before, but this is a fascinating phenomenon.

While use of technology has increased dramatically within the last few years, there are still some candidates that don’t think it is worth the investment to put up a solid internet campaign. I once worked for a candidate who had just about the worst campaign website but had an incredible official website since the state was on the hook for the technology bill. In his book on internet use within the legislative branch, Johnson points out that many on the Hill are using technology to push through legislation while not focusing as much on the internet for campaign use. While government use of the net is helped by the limitless coffers of the government, it does raise some interesting questions. When will we get to a point that it will be mandatory for all candidates to have a strong internet presence? Will the internet trump traditional forms of campaign communication? Are we there already?

Based on Howard Dean’s strong performance using the net, I think that many candidates have realized just how powerful the internet can be as a campaign medium. I still think, however, that many smaller campaigns don’t think that the internet can impact their campaign and they rely on more traditional forms of campaign communication. We are within striking distance of all campaigns taking the internet seriously, especially since it has been proven to be a strong means of raising money (aka paying for itself and then some).