The impact of the Internet on politics has yet to reach its full potential, according to a panel of students who spoke Thursday night in Salomon 001 as part of the Brown College Democrats' Democracy Awareness Week.
Students on the panel had worked for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's presidential campaign and for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Panelists agreed on the Internet's importance in bringing together supporters of common causes.
Darshan Somashekar '05, webmaster for the Brown College Democrats, has worked as an intern in the DCCC's recently created department of online operations.
Of the nine candidates in this year's Democratic presidential primary, Dean was the one voters most associated with the Internet, Somashekar said.
Dean's Web site included a blog, or online journal, that let supporters follow Dean's every move on the campaign trail. The Web site also helped volunteers organize MeetUps, where Dean supporters could talk about their candidate and plan grassroots campaigning.
The strength of Dean's Web-based campaign was that it was interactive, Somashekar said. Voters could send messages to the Dean campaign via email and be assured their voices were heard.
"You can't talk to a TV commercial," he said.
Other strengths of Web-based campaigning include its cheapness inefficiency, although limited public access to the Internet represents a significant weakness, Somashekar said.
"The Internet doesn't represent everyone," he said. "Dean was boxed in by the Internet. He energized the youth core and ignored other demographics."
As the Internet becomes even more ubiquitous, Somashekar predicted it will play a greater role in campaigns. Campaign platforms could one day be based entirely on ideas expressed by constituents through blogs and email, he said.
Will Bittinger '05 agreed that the Internet's political power has only just begun to be discovered, citing Web sites such as Democracy for America (formerly Dean for America) and Change for America as examples of its potential.
Still, TV still has more clout than the Web, according to Bittinger. A clip of Howard Dean's "scream heard round the world" after the Iowa caucuses was played repeatedly on CNN, leading many voters to discount Dean as a viable candidate.
"What people see, that's their reality," Bittinger said.
Lily Raymond-Reed '06 interned for the Dean campaign as an advance team member. From working with the press and MTV's Rock the Vote, she said she's found students are more likely to get look for about the election on the Internet than on television or in newspapers.
"When trying to mobilize younger Democrats, we found that kids were more likely to check their e-mail than their mailboxes," Raymond-Reed said.
College Democrats Vice-President Sean Siperstein '05 said that while the Internet has been embraced by the Democratic Party as an effective campaign tool, many political organizations don't fully understand the benefits it can provide.
After the Super Tuesday primary victories March 3 clinched the nomination for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), his campaign used the Internet to raise $10 million in 10 days, and is currently attempting a repeat performance, Siperstein said.
He also noted the use of the Internet by state-level campaigns, citing Democrat Ben Chandler's win in a recent Kentucky congressional special election.
"In 2008, if people aren't taking the Internet seriously, something seriously wrong will have happened," Siperstein said.
Zack Rosen, a computer science student who took time off from college to create Dean's Web site, was originally scheduled to speak, but he was not at the panel.
