bytes and ballots

The most recent Democracy Corps survey, conducted October 22-24 with 1200 likely voters in 50 Republican-held Congressional Districts, contained an interesting set of questions on this point. If you scroll down to questions 52-56 in the frequency questionnaire (linked above) you'll find this question:

Now, I'd like to ask you something different. Over the course of the campaign, have you (READ ITEM) more from those who want you to vote for the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate?

The inserted items were:

• Seen TV ads.
  
• Gotten information on the Internet.
  
• Received mailings.
  
• Been contacted face to face at home.
  
• Received phone calls.
  

And here is the data, showing some interesting partisan differences --- and some interesting partisan similarities --- in voter contact strategies in competitive Republican-held districts.

At this point in these campaigns, Republicans hold a lead in mail contact, with 27% of likely voterss stating they had received more mailings from Republicans, and 14% from Democrats. 35% of likely voters said they had received mailings from both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans also hold slight leads in television contacts, and phone contacts.

But when it comes to the Internet, the data show that candidates in these competitive districts are using the Internet for contact:

1. 70% of likely voters said that neither Republicans nor Democrats had contacted them via the Internet.
   
2. 7% said that they had received Internet contact from both parties.
   
3. 8% said they had received Internet contact from Democrats, 7% from Republicans --- virtually no difference there.
   

So, Google is entering politics ... with netPAC. Here's some details from a recent story in the San Jose Mercury News:

Google NetPAC, launched last month, is contributing to three Republicans, including two of the most endangered GOP House members. In the past, Google executives have given overwhelmingly to Democrats and liberal groups.

The Republican recipients include Reps. Heather Wilson of New Mexico and Deborah Pryce of Ohio, whose districts are now rated as a tossup in the Nov. 7 election, and Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin. He chairs the Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over some Internet commerce laws.

...

The new Google PAC also gave $1,000 each to two Democrats: Rep. Anna Eshoo of Palo Alto, whose district includes Google's headquarters, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who is running for re-election.

The even-handed PAC contributions contrast with the Democratic tilt of Google employees.

Out of 145 contributions from Google executives and employees in the past two years, all but four went to Democrats and liberal groups including moveon.org, according to data from Political Money Line, which tracks money in politics.

One top executive, Vint Cerf, gave $2,000 to New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign. Several employees gave to Ned Lamont, the anti-war candidate in Connecticut who defeated Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary.

During this year's debate over Net neutrality -- a complex battle between Internet companies and telecommunications giants over future regulations and pricing -- telecom lobbyists worked to marginalize Google as a ``liberal'' company.

NPR had a good story on the political use of YouTube, including some links to some interesting ads.

That's according to Bush media advisor Mark McKinnon, who made that argument during a recent panel discussion at Harvard. More detail is provided by the National Post, in this article.

Here's more:

"In 2000, we had no BlackBerrys but the Democrats and Al Gore did," he said Saturday during a select panel discussion sponsored by Harvard's Shorenstein Foundation.

"In fact, Gore was on his way to the podium in 2000 to give his defeat speech and got a message on his way which told him not to concede. Because of the BlackBerry technology, we had a recount in 2000," he said.

Such technology, combined with blogs, the Internet and a decline in quality journalism, has changed politics, he added. "One button can be pushed and your message, both 30 seconds or 20 minutes, can go to six million in two seconds. Punch it again and it can go to 18 million," he said.

Also making a difference is the noisiness of the blogosphere and hundreds of media outlets. But the development represents both good and bad news. Voters are bombarded with ever-shallower information but also with the opportunity to obtain more in-depth information. "We still use the 30-second commercial, but now we can use the larger-format video. Interested people can view videos that deal with issues and candidates in depth. They can hear and watch the speeches," he said.

Voters can correspond with candidates. For the first time, roughly 23% of U.S. Senators have blogs, along with many Congressmen in this election.

I've not done a survey myself, but it would be interesting to compile a list of exactly which Senators are now using blogs --- and which are using blogs in a year (and then in two years). Not to mention what they are writing about on their blogs!