Publication Date: Wednesday Sep 1, 1999

ELECTION '99: Cyber-campaigns take off

Candidates in this fall's elections turn to the Internet

As lawn signs begin springing up around Palo Alto to mark the start of this fall's election season, candidates are turning in droves to a different means of getting their message out--cyberspace.

In the 1997 City Council race, only five out of 12 candidates touted Web sites. This year, 10 out of 12 candidates will jump on the Internet bandwagon. Most of the seven school board candidates also have an Internet presence this year.

When City Councilman Vic Ojakian trumpeted his Web address on his lawn signs to bolster his 1997 campaign, he was considered one of the pioneers. But two years later, candidates who don't have a Web site to crow about are considered out of touch.

"You have just as much chance to get your message out through a Web site as dropping off a brochure at a door or calling someone," said school board member John Tuomy, who may have been the first Palo Alto candidate to exploit the Web when he posted a campaign site in 1995.

This year's techno-savvy crop of candidates have been cutting back on mailing and printing costs by recruiting volunteers and soliciting donations through their Web sites, which cost around $100 to set up compared to thousands of dollars spent on brochures.

"I bet some day it will replace these expensive mailings we have to do," said City Council candidate Judy Kleinberg. "It's such a waste."

At least one City Council candidate, ISP Channel director Mark Heyer, is nearly spurning traditional mailings altogether in favor of cyber-campaigning.

"In the last year of working at ISP I haven't written a single letter on paper," said Heyer, who is competing with Kleinberg for one of four four-year seats in the Nov. 2 City Council election. "It's a shock to come into politics and see that so much is still done on paper."

In the last few days, Heyer had nine people sign up via the Internet to help him with his campaign. And over the next few weeks, he plans to develop an interactive discussion group where voters can post questions and debate issues.

Tuomy, who's running for re-election to the school board this November, also plans to use his Web site as a means of exchanging views with the public.

Other candidates plan to supplement traditional mailings and precinct walks by providing more detailed biographical information about themselves and their views on the Internet.

Since July 30, City Council candidate Nancy Lytle has already received more than 200 hits on her Web site, which sports smiling photographs of her family and basset hound Speedbump, as well as interactive links to Palo Alto's Comprehensive Plan and historic preservation ordinance.

"A brochure is very much a nutshell," Lytle said. "With a Web site, you can go into things as deeply as you want."

School board candidate Gail Price plans to post her candidate statement, a list of endorsers and links to newspaper articles concerning her campaign. Shelby Valentine, who is also running for the board, will include similar information on her site and display a picture of her campaign quilt, which she created as a way to depict issues of importance to the race.

School board hopeful Mandy Lowell will include newspaper articles about educational issues for parents to read and respond to, along with her biographical information.

Although an Internet presence can make candidates more accessible, it does have its drawbacks.

"We are working at such a cyber-speed now that there's an expectation that you'll be immediately responsive," said Kleinberg, who is still putting the final touches to her site before its Labor Day launch.

"I think we want to have thoughtful, effective responses," she said. "Otherwise it's just window dressing."

If elected to the City Council, Kleinberg plans to keep her Web site up and running to maintain her accessibility to residents. But, while she's aware of the virtues of cyber-campaigning, Kleinberg said that the Internet will never replace traditional press-the-flesh campaigns.

"There's something about being able to see people in the flesh," she said. "You can't get that in cyberspace."

Other candidates agree.

"Stuffing pamphlets under doors is a lot more effective (than other methods) because you get to meet people," said Bob Moss, who is competing with three others for the two-year City Council seat vacated by City Councilwoman Micki Schneider.

Moss added that content is the key to making cyberspace an effective campaigning medium.

"If all you put up is basically pablum and there's no substance to it, I don't think that will grab people," Moss said.

City Councilwoman Dena Mossar, who is the only incumbent in the City Council race, is one of the few candidates who doesn't plan to embrace the Internet as a marketing tool.

"You have to send out mailings," she said. "Not everyone in Palo Alto has a computer."

In fact, around 60 percent of Palo Alto households own a computer. But instead of creating her own Web site, Mossar intends to take advantage of the League of Women Voters' smartvoter.org site, which gives free Internet space to all candidates. Mossar also lists her e-mail address on campaign literature.

"I'm still at the place where I want to use it as a basic communication tool rather than as a marketing tool," she said.

School board candidate Katherine Rudolph will also take advantage of the League of Women Voters site rather than creating her own Web page.

The only City Council candidate who has absolutely no intention of taking his campaign online is 81-year-old council critic Ed Power, a perennial council candidate.

Power said he doesn't even own a computer.

"It's just a new gimmick," he said. 

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