Interesting Study on Candidate's websites

[wyldwolf]

Among the reports top assertions:

•"Democrats lead Republicans in using their Web sites to get visitors involved in the campaign (both engaging in the dialogue and participating in grassroots activity). Barack Obama is the clear leader here, followed by Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Bill Richardson."

•"Perhaps the most fundamental grassroots activity of all, getting people to register to vote, is surprisingly lacking on these candidate sites. Only four candidates-Hillary Clinton, John Cox, John McCain and Barack Obama-feature information or tools to register to vote on their sites."

•"In their choice of language, there were some notable differences between Republicans and Democrats. The GOP candidates emphasize such words as 'leadership,' 'taxes,' and 'values' while Democrats stressed 'children,' 'family' and 'protect.'

•"When the candidates are talking about themselves, there are certain words that they have chosen to ignore. Nowhere to be found in the biographies are 'God,' 'moral,' and 'progressive.' No Democrat uses the word 'liberal,' and even Republican frontrunners shy away from using 'conservative.'

"Savvy visitors may even be able to determine leading candidates from the so-called lesser ones," the report states. "The top candidates-those with the most money and poll popularity-have the most technically sophisticated sites, update more often, use more video and include more news articles. They also focus on fewer issues." It adds that Edwards looks at the fewest issues, with six, and Dennis Kucinich has the most at 91, noting he is the only discussing hemp and animal rights.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003610959

[illinoisprogressive]

1. thanks for the post. interesting information

[Adelante]

2. That is interesting

This: "Edwards looks at the fewest issues"

According to supporters, isn't this where Edwards is supposed to have it over the rest?

[seasat]

3. Not sure how well they did their study.

Especially this point:

"When the candidates are talking about themselves, there are certain words that they have chosen to ignore. Nowhere to be found in the biographies are 'God,' 'moral,' and 'progressive.'

From Bill Richardson's biography:

Bill followed in his father's footsteps and entered Tufts University in Boston in 1966. His interest in politics was sparked while on a school trip to Washington, D.C. during which Senator Hubert Humphrey stopped to talk to Bill and his classmates about American values and the power of public service. Governor Richardson calls this a turning point in his political awareness: "Senator Humphrey was a proud Democrat and presented his convictions with such strength, that I began to realize how a progressive vision could change the world."

I ran across this interesting post by the blogger at "The Strange Death of Liberal America":

For most of this generation the Democratic Party has lived as if it did not have a past. When was the last time you heard a Democratic presidential candidate evoke his or her party and mean it? For some time now the preferred tactic for Democrats has centered on masquerading as an “outsider” and avoiding any mention of the party at all costs. Candidates seem embarrassed by their own party, the way people from a disreputable family are afraid of their names.

This year continues to follow the pattern. The word “Democrat” or “Democratic Party” does not appear in the biographies on Hillary Clinton’s web site or Mike Gravel’s. John Edwards, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama mention it once in their web site biographies. Bill Richardson gives the party three mentions in his bio. Joe Biden wins the award for most mentions with four. Dennis Kucinich’s web page would not even load.

I'll help the blogger out. Kucinich mentions those terms 5 times in his bio, beating Biden. Now, Edwards also mentions "Democratic Primary" and Obama mentions "working with both Democrats and Republicans" in their bios so I'm not sure how thorough of a search the above blogger did. Dodd also identifies himself as former chair of the Democratic National Convention twice.

The Blogger does seem to have a point. None of the candidates explicitly identify themselves as Democrats in their main web page. I only found Democrats or Democratic references in news item excerpts on Kucinich and Richardson's sites on their main page. You'd think at least one of our candidates would acknowledge our party somewhere on their home page.

[rinsd]

4. "Edwards looks at the fewest issues"

And that my friends is poetic justice.

Clinton supporters know exactly what I am talking about.

[Alamom]

5. Interesting. Thanks. eom