Salt Lake City News

UTAH VOTE NOTES 2006

Ashdown and Others Turn onto MySpace for Political Support

By Tracy Medley, 10-16-06

Look at Pete Ashdown’s MySpace profile and you’ll see much more than the same old lists of political humdrum and issue-babble; if you look close enough you may even find a real boy…er man. For instance, Ashdown, who is challenging Senatorial fixture Orrin Hatch this November, likes Battlestar Galactica, Rushmore and Dante’s Inferno. Battlestar Galactica?...all politics aside, who can argue with that?

Ashdown isn’t the only political candidate riding the MySpace love-train this election season. The Wall Street Journal’s Erika Lovely reports that Democrats and Republicans alike are finding MySpace more than helpful in reaching potential volunteers and fund-raising opportunities. Fund-raising?…on MySpace? Apparently, yes. For some politicians, logging onto MySpace increased donations to their campaigns by as much as 50%.

Ashdown himself was quoted in The Wall Street Journal saying of MySpace, “It’s the holy grail of politics. The amount of volunteerism was absolutely minimal compared to what we’re getting now,”

So, is MySpace is the key to reaching politically apathetic “youngsters?” For some, the answer is a definite, yes. C.W. Nevius of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, “This is the new world of politics on the Internet. With the Millennium generation, an enormous chunk of the population between 13 and 25 years old that is just coming into prime voting age, experts say politicians would be foolish to ignore the nearly 76 million MySpace users. Even if they aren't sure what the fuss is about.”

The time seems right for politicians to take advantage of the Internet instead of the other way around. Websites like Youtube have busted some politicians on their worst behavior. Who hasn’t seen George Allen’s “Macaca” misstep? Or Montana’s Conrad Burns referring to his roofer as a “little Guatemalan?” Both videos were played endlessly, not only on Youtube itself, but also on mainstream television news programs that began airing the “viral videos” soon after their initial Internet release. And there has been much debate over whether this is a good or bad thing. Some argue that such scrutiny could cause politicians to be less of themselves in the public eye, while others find such unfiltered political blunders invaluable in a free democracy. Being able to see our public officials without their game-face on may just be the great political revolution of the Internet.

With so many virtual opportunities for politicians to be caught with their pants around their knees, MySpace offers them something it provides to all of its patrons; a place to be whoever they want to be.

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