Campaigns in the 19th Century
- Geared to Party activities
- Partisan newspapers flourished
- Surrogate candidates stumped
- Populace rarely saw candidates
- Considered unseemly for the candidates to participate as they do today
Campaigns after the turn of 20th Century
- Armies of campaign volunteers
- Armed with banners, buttons, posters, and stickers
- Deluge communities prior to candidate arrival
- Presumption of hand to hand, human interaction
- Illusion of mass support
September 1960 The First New Era
- A sideline to the presidential campaign
- 4 debates Kennedy - Nixon
- Showcase each candidate via the new medium of television
- Changed forever how parties and candidates communicated with voters and ran their campaigns
- Realigned power from party to candidate
The 21st century
- The internet is allowing the people to reenter the political process
- It provides low-cost, two-way interaction
- It can level the playing field
- It can create a community with only a common interest and a message board
- Work for them rather than against them
The Internet and Local Politics
Making it work for you