Posted on: Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Political Web sites proliferate

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

In the beginning of the presidential race, Heather Clark visited the Web sites of everyone who was planning to run.

"What I like about the Internet is you can access it and just see it in written form exactly what the candidate stands for," the 26-year-old property accountant said. "It's their opinion. It's not subject to interpretation. It can't be misquoted."

Clark, a Diamond Head resident who also likes to visit "tongue-in-cheek" political sites, said she plans on checking out campaign Web sites for additional information as the election grows closer.

Many candidates and others involved in politics have people like Clark in mind. Campaign Web sites have grown increasingly sophisticated as more voters tap the Internet to learn about candidates and political issues. Web sites offering neutral, or at least nonpartisan, information are also more mainstream and interactive.

Campaign sites usually no longer offer just basic information about candidates and their positions. Many include features that allow people to make online campaign contributions, sign up to volunteer, or send campaign e-cards to others.

"I think any candidate who doesn't have one these days is losing out and sort of has one strike against them because a lot of people are turning to Web sites as a matter of habit for information," said local political consultant Don Clegg.

"I think it's a very valuable way to put the information out that is yours and it doesn't cost you anything, provided you know how to put up a Web site," Clegg said. "You can put your brochure in there, your pictures, a lot of information that really you can't put into a newspaper article or advertising."

But it's unclear just how effective campaign Web sites are at drawing votes, even if more people are using the Internet for political information.

While television news is still the primary source of campaign information for Americans, the Internet's popularity has matched traditional outlets such as public television broadcasts, Sunday morning news programs and weekly news magazines, according to a report by the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press.

The report said one in five young people between the age of 18 and 29 say they regularly get campaign news from the Internet, and that even an increasing percentage of Americans in their 30s and 40s — or, 16 percent — are turning to the Internet for campaign information.

But for people 50 and older, a demographic with a higher voting record, the Internet is a relatively minor campaign news source, Pew Research Center reported.

Phil Lahne, a 61-year-old attorney from Kailua, said he refers to the Internet for political information more than he did in previous elections, but that he still relies more on traditional resources like newspapers and magazines. He said he reads online news reports and visits campaign-related sites rather than official candidate sites.

"I just don't think the candidate sites provide any real useful information," Lahne said. "It's just sort of an electronic version of their stump speeches. So I don't see anything there that you don't see on TV or regular news reports. ... It's more interesting to try to see what kind of take other people are making out of what's being said or done."

Spokeswomen for Honolulu mayoral candidates Duke Bainum and Mufi Hannemann said their respective Web sites are an additional way to get their messages to the public and allow voters to get to know them better.

Hannemann's site (www.votemufi.com) has averaged 4,167 hits a day for the past three months, said Jeremy Bennett, online developer for the campaign.

Bainum's campaign declined to say how many hits its Web site (www.dukebainum.com) receives, but spokeswoman Phyllis Kihara said the campaign has been "overwhelmed with responses" via the site.

"We've been very pleased, and it's another great way for people to get more information about Duke that's from us, so it's accurate information," Kihara said. "You can't have as much detail in television."

Hannemann's campaign spokeswoman Elisa Yadao said: "It's just part of an effort to make things as easy for people as we can. Everybody is way too busy these days. Whatever we can do to make our message easier to get to them and make Mufi more accessible to the people is what we want to do."

The state Office of Elections' Web site (www.state.hi.us/elections) has also increased its options in the last few years, including a feature that allows voters to find out their polling place and review their ballot. In addition to basic information about voter services, the site also includes candidate information and a link to download voter registration and absentee ballot requests.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.