Idaho Politics: Commentary
Risch vs. LaRocco: Which One Uses Email?
By Jill Kuraitis, 10-15-07
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Last week I wrote that Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, the inevitable Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Larry Craig and former Congressman Larry LaRocco, the inevitable and only declared Democrat, show distinctly different attitudes toward new media, including blogs, online news sites like NewWest.Net/Boise, and even email.
I asked Risch if he reads online news or blogs, and if he pays attention to the comments. With a big grin, he said, “NO, and NO!” which drew a laugh from the crowd. “But ain’t America great,” he said. “Even the Statesman edits letters to the editor, but on a blog you can say anything.”
“People give me printouts which I occasionally read,” he said.
Asked the same question about online news and blogs, LaRocco said, “I read blogs. I’ve had five live blogging events and will have more. I think online has democratized the political process in many ways instead of turning it all over to the special interests. It’s represented by you who are here today – traditional, online, new media – you’re all here.”
Idaho Statesman political columnist Dan Popkey was interested enough in the question to write his Sunday column on the subject. Although he got it wrong about who-asked-who (I asked the question of Risch, then Joan McCarter of Daily Kos and a NewWest.Net columnist asked LaRocco) his column is outstanding, and further illustrates the difference between the two men when it comes to new media, citizen journalism, and the Internet.
Popkey wrote:
The disgrace of Sen. Larry Craig has put the Idaho race on the Web map, says LaRocco, 61, who announced his campaign on his Web site in April. He’s using the Democratic ActBlue.com to raise money, posting campaign video on YouTube.com and courting left-wing bloggers like Joan McCarter at DailyKos.com.Risch has no plans to blog, post to YouTube or even start using personal e-mail. “It’s generational, I suppose,” said Risch, 64. “When I want to talk to somebody, I pick up the phone.... I have no plans of penetrating the blogosphere,” Risch told me. “I understand there’s a lot of chatter about them among politicos like us. But the guy walking down the street who’s gonna vote, who’s neither a Republican or a Democrat, how many political blogs does that guy visit between now and the day he punches that ballot?"…
Actually, Governor, you’d be amazed.
Let’s be pedestrian for a moment. Risch has been married 39 years, so he’s 60-something. I have four 80-something neighbors who use the internet and email – which I know because I’m the neighborhood fix-my-computer person. There are public classes for seniors in how to use the internet. Your mother probably uses email.
Some Idaho House Republicans, who tend to be over 60, had to be dragged kicking and screaming onto the internet – sometimes by amused but patient high school interns - but they went.
Not so their Lt. Governor. As clever as he is, Risch has his head in some deep, er, sand about this. Don’t we have enough politicians in denial in Idaho?
Risch would probably say he’s been doing fine without the internet, thank you very much. And indeed, he is an action guy. To watch him stride and speak purposefully gives the impression of a man on a mission.
What Risch overlooks is the power made possible by internet netroots politics. Candidates are raising tens of thousands of dollars– sometimes hundreds – by tending to the faithful and wooing undecideds through blogs like Daily Kos. They develop email lists, take the pulse of voters by reading posts by ordinary folks, and get a feel for the zeitgeist of their race.
Savvy candidates read both Democratic and Republican blogs, post their campaign commercials on YouTube, attend blogging conventions, and have their own blogs. In fact, I don’t know of a major campaign without a fulltime internet staffer who takes care of those things.
But it’s not enough to have staff who put up a website for you. Understanding the power of the internet comes from using it. Much better is to have signed on years ago and watched it develop.
LaRocco has quite a head start, having used the internet and email for years. He has held a live blogging event here on NewWest.Net/Boise and even attended the Yearly Kos convention, where the Democratic presidential candidates showed up and had a debate for several thousand bloggers.
Risch’s view is astoundingly backward and short-sighted. Among hundreds of reasons, one is that a stubborn refusal to keep up with technology isn’t a good thing in a Senator who can influence high-tech companies to try Idaho. Just the impression it may make on the leaders who run those companies is problematic.
If Risch is backward about this phenomenon which is the worldwide communications infrastructure of business and governments, what else will he refuse to accept as a given?
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Comments
If you get another chance, ask him those grocery questions: how much does a gallon of milk cost, and has he ever done a self check out at a store (is he even aware that such a feat is possible?)
"It's generational," says Risch, 64, speaking as a member of a more fossilized generation than his 61-year-old opponent.
Risch's mind set is to see voters as consumers, not as participants in making their community better. With enough money, he just hires the consultants and pollsters to tell him what to put in his ads and speeches that will push the buttons to get people to act. His comment about the guy walking down the street reveals that he does not see him as a full participant in power, but merely as a consumer that he needs push with the right messages.
I hope that as we blog and use other on-line communication tools, we don't fall into a similar cynical trap that its just about pushing messages to get people to buy our political candidates; that if we raise a million dollars through the internet we can flood that guy with ads and get him to cast his vote our way.
Blogging and other on-line communication tools are not ends in themselves. They should be used strengthen face-to-face organizing that helps more people find their own voice and make their own commitment to act on things that will improve their community, their nation and the world.