Friday, November 26, 1999
Stealth politics waged on Internet
E-mail campaigning inexpensive, effective
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Reserved on the campaign trail, Republican presidential hopeful Steve Forbes is a bit edgier in the new world of Internet politics, where his campaign e-mail blithely refers to George W. Bush as a “reformed playboy.”
With just a few clicks, the Forbes campaign sent 42,000 people a copy of a recent column mocking the GOP front-runner for a “drunken college escapade” — an attack leveled below the radar of traditional political observers.
“There's a certain stealthfulness to the Internet,” said Richard A. Segal, who directs Mr. Forbes' Internet strategy and is the co-founder of the Springdale marketing communications firm Hensley Segal Rentschler. “It's a new form of campaign warfare.”
In a shift that is transforming politics, the presidential candidates have seized on the Internet to cheaply generate grass-roots support, raise money and introduce themselves to voters.
Every presidential candidate has a Web site, making it easier than ever for voters to find an unprecedented amount of information.
Watch Vice President Al Gore's Thanksgiving campaign advertisement hours before it hits television. Check out baby pictures from the Bush family album. Click to make a credit card contribution to just about any candidate.
Web surfers eager to write a letter to the editor supporting Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, simply can visit his Internet site, which provides links to 59 newspapers around the country.
Campaigns also use e-mail to rally their troops, announce events and point out press clippings that shower their candidate with praise or blast the opposition.
Few readers outside Iowa see the Waterloo Courier. But Mr. Forbes' campaign was only too happy to spread one of its columns mocking a speech Mr. Bush gave to teen-agers that recounted a “drunken college escapade when he stole a Christmas wreath.”
The columnist, Eric Stern, quotes Mr. Bush as saying: “The mistake was drinking too much and thinking I was invisible.” Mr. Stern then adds: “Maybe the Ivy League grad meant to say "invincible,' and maybe those kids will learn the real lesson about how the criminal justice system works for rich, white men another day.
“Pay attention kids: Don't screw around, or you'll go to Yale University, own a baseball team, serve as the Texas governor and run for president one day.”
With the help of a growing number of political Web consultants, the cyber-battle has reached all levels of the campaign.
That includes fund raising, where Democrat Bill Bradley leads the pack with more than $1 million raised over the Internet. Other campaigns are taking in hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Forbes volunteers who recruit their friends can be captains of their very own “e-precincts,” or — if they sign up enough people — can join the “e-national committee.”
Campaigns also are letting people feel like they are on the inside.
Mr. Bush, for instance, offers audio snippets of him teasing reporters on his inaugural trip to Iowa. “Please store your expectations securely in the overhead bin,” Mr. Bush tells reporters, who laugh back.
“It's one of the fastest-growing mediums in politics and it's getting our undivided attention,” said Greg Sedberry, who is managing Mr. Bush's Web site. “It's now a question of who's winning the e-race, the e-campaign.”
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