Boston Phoenix / By David S. Bernstein

Campaign Dot-com

While everyone talks about fundraising over the Web, this year's presidential candidates hope to use the Internet for much more.

September 6, 2003 |

LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?

Join our mailing list:

Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email.

Trident Booksellers & Café is located within walking distance of John Kerry's residence, so you might expect a gathering of his supporters to fill the small shop. Especially since this was a MeetUp -- arranged through MeetUp.com, which former Vermont governor Howard Dean's campaign has used to recruit thousands of followers. So the seven Kerry fans who came to Trident last Thursday evening couldn't hide their disappointment. (Actually nine showed up, but two well-groomed thirtysomething buddies left quickly, apparently having anticipated more of an opportunity to MeetUp with single women.) Trident's wait staff was also surprised by the poor attendance; more people than this had come to an atheists MeetUp the previous week, and even a recent MeetUp of witches had seen a better draw.

Rating the sites

BY CAMILLE DODERO

CANDIDATE: HOWARD DEAN

Url: www.deanforamerica.com

Design: Its use of the color black makes it less nauseatingly jingoistic than other candidates’ sites.

Special features: You name it, it’s here — an official blog, "Howard Dean TV" (a Broadband channel at www.howarddean.tv ), Dean Wireless (a text-messaging service), banner ads, audio samples, photo galleries, downloadable posters, templates for buttons, printable flyers, and more.

What makes it good: What McCain did for the campaign trail in 2000, Howard Dean has done for the Web. He has embraced the grassroots ethic by building an online community and offering easy ways to promote Dean without submitting personal information. And while most candidates’ sites are completely bereft of humor, Dean’s "Poster Gallery" section showcases photos of advocates brandishing Dean signs — Klingons for Dean, Very Tall People for Dean, SpongeBob SquarePants for Dean, Septuagenarians for Dean, Giant Insects for Dean.

What makes it bad: "Howard Dean TV" crashes older computers.

What you learn about Dean: His wife, Judith, a physician who once shared a practice with her husband, won’t be on the campaign trail because she -- get this -- has to work!

What will make you gag: Even Dean can’t escape cheesy taglines like "The Doctor Is In."

Grade: A

CANDIDATE: JOHN EDWARDS

Url: www.johnedwards2004.com

Design: Intended to remind you of a scrapbook; something about it screams Major League Baseball.

Special features: Campaign ads; videos from the trail; an animated bus.

What makes it good: Easy to use.

What makes it bad: Too much love for Edward’s big blue tour bus.

What you learn about Edwards: He really, really wants you to know his grandfather was a sharecropper.

What will make you gag: His wife, Elizabeth, pens hokey postcards from each stop on the "Real Solutions Express Tour." She calls a complete stranger "the kindest man ever" and sounds eerily reminiscent of Jack Handey. "Next, we stopped at The Soda Shoppe in Laconia. It was fish fry night, and it smelled good."

Grade: B-

CANDIDATE: DICK GEPHARDT

Url: www.dickgephardt2004.com

Design: Conservative; could be the Web page of an insurance company.

Special features: A union bum-kiss in the form of a companion site called www.gephardtworks.com ; a "Virtual Kitchen Table," which poses as a dialogue between Dick and his admirers, but is really just a sneaky way of culling personal information.

What makes it good: It’s not offensive.

What makes it bad: Like the candidate it represents, there’s nothing extraordinary here.

What you learn about Gephardt: Dick and his wife, Jane (yep, that’s her real name), met on their first day at Northwestern. "When he pulled her suitcase out of her taxi, the latch broke and ‘everything fell into the gutter. I never forgot him for that,’ she says."

What will make you gag: "The Great Gephardt Iowa Pie Challenge" and its corresponding "Pie Chart" -- a bizarre travelogue of the places in the Hawkeye State where Gephardt has scoffed pie. Big surprise: He devoured mostly apple.

View as a single page