WP: Dean Leaves Legacy of Online Campaign [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Dean Leaves Legacy of Online Campaign
Use of Internet to Raise Funds, Organize Rallies May Be Common in Future
By Brian Faler
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, February 20, 2004; Page A12


....(Howard Dean's) success has been attributed to any number of real-world factors: his straight-talking persona, his opposition to the war in Iraq, the favorable media coverage he enjoyed much of last year. But experts also credit his campaign with developing savvy online fundraisers -- essentially online telethons that posted their goals alongside urgent deadlines and icons counting the donations as they came in.

It was a simple idea, employed by any number of public TV stations. But it was a campaign innovation, allowing Dean to turn otherwise mundane fundraising pitches into a high-tech call to arms. Experts said it was a significant improvement from how candidates had previously asked for money online -- usually, by simply urging supporters to send a check sometime before the next election....

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....the Dean blog -- like those his rivals later launched -- gave his most fervent supporters a place to hang out (virtually), meet, chat and sometimes suggest ideas for the campaign honchos in Vermont. Campaign officials said they read the thousands of comments that Dean supporters posted and adopted many of their suggestions. But more importantly, the officials said, the blog helped create a sense of community among far-flung supporters, deepening their commitment to the former governor.

The Dean campaign also broke new ground in political organizing, using the Internet to help most anyone, anywhere to campaign on its behalf. It created an array of online tools -- a Web-based directory of supporters, a site that enabled them to find and schedule their own Dean events. But its noted achievement was realizing the potential of Meetup.com, a nonpartisan Web site that helps people interested in politics and other subjects find one another. More than 185,000 people signed up in support of the former governor, while tens of thousands more joined on behalf of one of his rivals....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55846-2004Feb19.html