Political Campaigning Portrayed in Candidate Websites

Paul M. Nguyen
An letter to his AP U.S. Government teacher

I apologize for not communicating with you sooner, but college work continues to take its toll on every good student. I am proud to say that I have considerably increased my attention to politics since the last time we conversed.

I have found a particular interest in how the Democratic candidates have utilized the internet as a media resource. It made me think of being able to use Dean's funding from the internet as an example of a defense within an essay concerning media and technology. With Dean out of the competition, it is difficult to say whether or not the internet helped him in the end, however it is clear that he has revolutionized political campaigns.

The internet is a powerful resource in which each candidate has staff members maintaining detailed websites. It is very peculiar to examine different tactics that each campaign used to decorate their websites. Kerry for example has a very clean cut website with simple menus which allow you to search for his stance on numerous issues. Each news headline on his site has a simple portrait of Kerry interacting with the community. I found his website to be the most fitting to my taste. Edward's website on the other hand is very colorful with red, white, and blue banners wherever that web team could place them. The slogan, "Real Solutions for America," stands out at the top of the page. It has an interactive electoral voting map to play with and other colorful buttons to explore. Dean's website was very business and professional in my opinion. His menu bar was black and had a sleek design in compared to Kerry's simple blues and Edward's palate of patriotic colors. It's almost as if the moods of their sites are set for particular audiences.

Speaking of audiences, each site conveniently has a button that changes, "John Kerry President," into, "John Kerry Presidente." "The Real Solutions for America" turns into, "Verdaderas Soluciones Para America." I have to give these guys ovations for the "En Espanol" button. It is clear that these candidates are concerned with informing all voters. The power of the Hispanic voters is not one to be forgotten in a big election like this. Other utilities used are blogs or web logs where the teams post daily messages on their campaign touring. Kerry's site has a blog written by his wife Teresa. She posts things like thank you messages to servicemen and firefighters. All these strategies have been explored in past elections, but I was very excited to see them personally during my web surfing on the issues. It was neat to read the candidates stances on the issues. In some cases their messages are somewhat identical and can get blurred when trying to differentiate them.

My current support is for Kerry. You weren't kidding when you told us how important momentum is in the election game. Kerry has been working strong as an advocate of the middle-class and his background has been judged as clean cut for the most part. Some questions have arisen concerning his stance on lobbyists, but besides that his military record and political stance seems to strengthen his image. Edwards has a very small town image. There are even many photos that have him with his wife and kids in forest-like areas with trees and fall leaves. I am glad to see that Kerry's position as a Roman Catholic hasn't really effected the public's opinion on him. The Democrats at Notre Dame have leaned towards Edwards - just one example of how religion doesn't seem to have a lot of weight to the issues. There is still much I have to research before I fully support one or the other, but I'm having a lot of fun following the Demo Derby.

When I think of Al Sharpton, I think about your imitation of him with protest signs. Your students must behaving tons of fun this semester. What part of government and politics are your students on now? If I can fit one in, I would like to take a political science class. There is just so much to study in college. It's very exciting.

Well I hope you enjoyed some of my insights with this years election. Being a moderate liberal among a conservative student body gets rough at times, but I'm enjoying the political dialogue with my peers here. I hope you are having a great school year and I hope to visit you during my spring break in three weeks.

Your well learned student, Paul Nguyen