EVERETT – There’s one neighborhood for this election where County Council candidate Mike Cooper has 51 friends so far and sheriff’s hopeful John Lovick has none.
It’s MySpace, the online community where an increasing numbers of candidates share their political selves in search of connections with anyone, anywhere.
“It allows me to cast the net a little bit wider to try and capture the interest of voters,” Cooper said.
What he’s mostly netted since setting up his page in November are a lot of folks who can’t vote in the 3rd District race between himself, a Democrat, and Renee Radcliff Sinclair, a Republican, who isn’t on MySpace.
His 51 friends include the Snohomish County Young Democrats, Mukilteo Councilman Marko Liias, a national union, and a nephew and a niece living in the Midwest.
“What I found out is it is a good tool to communicate with relatives in other states,” he said with a laugh.
In the last decade, the Internet emerged as a must-use implement to build support and raise money for those seeking state and federal offices. It’s becoming that way too for candidates for school boards and city and county offices.
In local races, the effort may not generate a lot of voters.
“I don’t think it’s going to impact the outcome of any elections,” said Ron Dotzauer, a Democratic political consultant and former campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell.
Nonetheless, state campaign regulators are wondering if the growth in Internet use needs controls.
The state Public Disclosure Commission will hold a workshop in Olympia today to learn how people and organizations use the Internet – from videos to blogs to fundraising – for promoting candidates and ballot measures
Dotzauer said those cultivating their political persona online do so to “create a little bit of hum” and view a Web site or MySpace page as a “to-do item, not I’m-going-to-do-it-to-win item,” he said.
The amount of benefit is closely tied to the degree of visibility their online presence earns offline.
“The main impact is not through people who see them firsthand but people who see them through mainstream media exposure,” said Michael Dimock, associate director of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press in Washington, D.C.
In a Pew survey done in July, a majority of people familiar with two YouTube videos related to the presidential campaign – Hillary and Bill Clinton’s parody of “The Sopranos” and the “I’ve got a crush on Obama” clip – learned about them from coverage on television.
Candidates need to expend effort to attain any gains from online campaigning, Dimock said.
“Some people see the Internet and think if you build it they will come. Just putting up a Web page and doing nothing is probably expecting too much,” he said.
That may explain a lack of MySpace friends for Lovick; his page came online two months ago and he’s posted no new information other than basic biographical data.
He also has a campaign Web site – as do the other two candidates in the race, Rob Beidler and Tom Greene.
Democratic County Executive Aaron Reardon, who is up for re-election, has nine friends on his MySpace page.
He said his college-age volunteers encouraged him to put up the page. It’s not a “vote-gainer” but another mode of getting the word out on his positions in this campaign.
Jack Turk, his Republican opponent, does not have a page.
“It depends on the campaign and the comfort level of the candidate and how much do they want to share,” Reardon said.
Mukilteo Councilwoman Jennifer Gregerson began a MySpace page in 2004 because her sister and her friends had them.
“It had pictures of me and friends, the usual,” said the 29-year-old Democrat who is unopposed for re-election.
“This year, since I was running, that’s what’s going on in my life so it’s on my page.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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