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Election
and Campaign Resources on the Net
The
Internet is a fabulous place to find political information
because of its ability to store historical data, articles,
and instant news features. Easier and more thorough than traditional
news media, the Internet excels in the area of voter education.
With newspapers or magazines available electronically anytime,
night or day, and more in depth than TV news coverage, the
Internet allows convenient access to information about all
parties and candidates. Although time consuming, selected
information is available as needed. And opportunities abound
to chat and interact immediately with other users, world wide.
Through
the Internet, you can quickly educate yourself in your own
time and at your own pace in order to vote intelligently.
You can easily find out about the parties, their platforms,
and their candidates. When you become interested in one specific
candidate, you are able to research their biographical information,
published writings, and endorsements.
Democratic
Party | Republican Party |
Libertarian Party | Reform
Party | Other Sources
This
political party refuses to be left behind on the information
highway. Democrats are taking advantage of cyberspace and
reaching voters as they never have before. From student organizations
to the President, Democrats are providing an overwhelming
amount of information. Some of which is repetitive . For example,
many Democratic home pages have the same links to other political
sites. This can be a good way for surfers to tap into the
vast amount of information.
Aside
from such problems, however, the advantages far outweigh the
disadvantages. Americans have better opportunities to learn
about government, the issues of the nation, and the election
process.
Accessing
the Democratic Party
For
a quick listing of Democratic Party sites, conduct a net search.
Then choose from the variety of search engines listed. Information
may vary between search engines. Be advised each contains
much of the same information. Whatever the focus, begin with
a search of related keywords. Listed below are keywords that
were used in this research for the Democratic Party.
- "Democratic
Party"
- "Democratic
National Committee"
- "Political
Parties"
The
search engine Alta
Vista found 3,000 sites on the Democratic Party. To get
more specific information, the search may have to be narrowed.
Most of the three-thousand sites found were press releases
on various government issues. Rather than scrolling through
the entire list, move to a Democratic page where such items
are grouped according to subject. From there, simply click
on a topic of interest.
The
Democratic Party National Headquarters
http://www.democrats.org
Some
Democratic pages are run by Senate committees, and the above
is one such example. Also known as "The Democratic Party
On Line," this site can be found through a search or
by direct address. It features news items, press releases,
the party platform as well as a site called "Party Central"
Click here and receive a world of Democratic campaign information.
Learn about upcoming party events, voter registration, and
how the party plans to reach various groups.
 According
to Bill Mann, author of Politics on t10-Jan-2008 10:36 AMce on-line. "If you do a gopher
search, or ask a Web robot to find the word Republican, you'll
get a pretty good response. But after you sort out duplications,
entries that are no more than a single document, and documents
and sites that happen to contain the word, there isn't much
left." However, this is changing rapidly with new information
added daily.
Republican
Main Street @ http://www.rnc.org/
is an excellent resource. New material is constantly updated
including news releases and briefings appearing on the GOP
newsstand. A useful link found at this site is "Vote"
located at the top of the page. This will lead you to an online
voter registration form. Complete the form, sign it, and send
it in. When it is accepted by your voter registration office,
you'll be registered.
Conservative
sites are quite popular on the net as well. One of the best
is The Right Side of the
Web. This
is a large fun site for the far righters.
The
most important member of the Republican Party must also be
included. This site gives access to President Bush's speeches,
his agenda, and the agencies that report to him. It is also
possible to email the President at the White House.
 The
Libertarians are well aware of the Internet's power and flexibility
and have taken full advantage. An initial net search at Google,
for example, yields newspaper articles, college bulletin boards,
documents, party platform information, candidates' biographical
information, upcoming events, chat sites and resource lists
on Libertarian issues.
Formed
in 1971, the Libertarian Party believes in a limited national
government and a foreign policy of nonintervention. The Libertarian
Party home page offers links to an overview, philosophy and
positions, membership information, directories and lists,
official documents, current activities, history, an opportunity
to join the Liberation Party, a free membership information
packet offer and a quiz.
 Started
in 1996, the Reform Party gain national attention when H.
Ross Perot became its presidential candidate. After the election,
the party reorganized as the American Reform Party. This party
is also aware of the power of the Internet and has taken advantage
of those capabilities.
Other
Sources of Political Information on the Net
Although
most campaign information can be found on Web sites, another
source of information can also be utilized to get current,
unbiased information on all the political and campaign issues
of the day, albeit in a less polished and prim environment.
These are called newsgroups.
Newsgroups
are thousands and thousands of specific, topic-driven discussion
areas for people to exchange ideas and views on similar topics.
Because the differing newsgroups are so large in number, the
user can pick to read messages on an extremely specified topic.
An example of this would be the politically-oriented newsgroups
found on Usenet. Over sixty newsgroups are devoted just to
political discussions. A sampling of these political newsgroup
topics include:
- alt.politics.reform
- alt.politics.socialism
- alt.politics.democrats
(both moderated and unmoderated)
- alt.politics.british
This,
again, is only a small sample of the groups out there that
offer political discussions. You can get lost for hours trying
to read every posting on these groups. One of the most interesting
features that sets newsgroups apart from something like a
politically oriented webpage, is that newsgroups allow you,
the actual user, to post ideas or replies to the newsgroup(s),
these messages that you submit can be read by persons all
over the world. The process is instantaneous and therefore
timely.
How
does a person get on these newsgroups? In most cases, the
user's Internet service provider will have its own news server,
and most software that is available today that has integrated
mail, browser and chat capabilities also has a module for
newsgroups. This capability may not be supported by all service
providers, or may be severely limited, it just depends on
the ISP you use.
Lobbying
on the Net
Other
campaign and election related issues on the Internet concern
lobbying groups. One group, IDI (Issue
Dynamics Inc.), specializes in setting up an "electronic
advocacy" on the Internet. IDI and other on-line lobbying
groups' main purpose is to enable, defeat or modify legislation.
What they basically do is notify groups and individuals about
pending legislation. They e-mail out copies of legislation,
provide letters expressing the client's position, and direct
the Internet user(s) to key committee members. This organization
can also show their clients how to generate electronic petitions.
These petitions can be used to generate fast action and quickly
put a candidate on the ballot in some cases.
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