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INDIANAPOLIS – Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is leading the way in using new technology and the youth movement to propel his presidential campaign. Heck, he’s even going to let his supporters know who his vice presidential pick is first, via text message.
But Indiana’s gubernatorial candidates aren’t doing too badly themselves, with GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels launching his own social networking site and Democrat Jill Long Thompson putting together a staff largely younger than 30.
“Sen. Obama has blazed a new path, and we are all working to emulate that as much as possible,” said Jeff Harris, spokesman for the Long Thompson campaign. “As younger Hoosiers are getting interested in presidential politics, we want them to check out the governor’s race, too.”
So what is each campaign doing to get younger voters involved and take advantage of new media and technology?
Campaign Web sites and e-mail communication are a given nowadays.
But Daniels also sends text alerts to his supporters when he unveils proposals or has breaking news to announce. And one recent TV ad even included a tagline urging Hoosiers to sign up for text messages from the governor.
But Daniels’ biggest accomplishment is the launch last week of “Our Comeback,” his own personal online community. You can sign up at www.mymanmitch.com.
So instead of having pages on international social network sites like Facebook and MySpace, Daniels has created his own social networking site. Though the news release called it a “groundbreaking endeavor by a U.S. political campaign,” Obama has had his own online community since 2007.
“We have always focused on the younger generations, and this is just another way to energize that group to get involved in the campaign and help communicate with their friends,” said Cam Savage, spokesman for the Daniels campaign.
He said the site is interactive because it has message boards; users can make their own videos and post them (subject to approval, of course), and supporters can post their own pictures with the governor on the campaign trail.
“There is a lot of flexibility to create your own content,” Savage said.
Long Thompson’s online director Samantha McDonald said texting is coming soon, and she updates social networking pages on MySpace, Facebook and Smaller Indiana on a regular basis.
“These sites are a great tool in the field,” she said. “If someone adds Jill as a supporter, her picture and her name show up and then their friends can look at it and click on the page with a bio and policy positions.”
Long Thompson’s campaign Web site – www.hoosiersforjill.com – also includes a blog from the campaign trail and Harris said a videographer has been along on trips recently and they hope to soon post behind-the-scenes clips.
Both sides have their ads online via YouTube, reaching a wide audience without paying for TV time.
“It is very effective financially and messagewise to get information info out about our campaign,” Harris said, noting that blogs often link to the ads.
And both sides are depending heavily on younger volunteers and staffers for field operations and day-to-day campaign operations.
They walk door-to-door giving information on the candidates, work phone banks to target likely voters, attend parades to hand out stickers, generally providing a visual presence.
The Daniels campaign has a program nicknamed STAMP – student ambassadors for Mitch – in which more than 20 slightly paid interns worked around the state during the summer.
Andy Mapes, an Auburn native who graduated from Franklin College in May and is now on active duty with the Indiana National Guard, worked out of Fort Wayne this summer.
“I was interested in the political process and I’m a political science major, so I thought it would be good experience,” he said. “I am a Mitch supporter, so it was an easy product for me to sell.”
Mapes said he and a few others were in charge of basically creating a grass-roots volunteer network in the area, mostly focusing on college students.
“It definitely had its frustrations. It’s difficult because there is so much that you want to do, but your time and resources are limited,” said Mapes, who noted that Obama is attracting a lot of youths on the presidential side, but he believes Daniels has the edge in that area in the governor’s race.
Savage said a good portion of the heavy lifting in his campaign is handled by younger staff members.
“I’m 31, and I’m a dinosaur,” he said. “You don’t just go to a meeting and hand out yard signs. That’s not what campaigns are about anymore.”
nkelly@jg.net
