By ANICK JESDANUN
AP Internet Writer
August 15, 2003, 2:26 PM EDT
Click by click, high school English teacher Sherry Stanley is working to help Democrat Howard Dean meet the tough requirements to get on Virginia's presidential ballot.
Through an e-mail list, she found dozens of Dean supporters in her state who helped get hundreds more to sign petitions. For the petition drive, she publicized launch parties on the candidate's Web site, where such events are deftly listed by ZIP code proximity.
Stanley is on her way to getting the 10,000 signatures needed to qualify in a state the Dean camp says would otherwise have been a close call for lack of money and staff.
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The Dean campaign's Internet fluency has enabled it to reach out to voters who feel disenfranchised, to persuade them to donate, and, perhaps most important, to encourage and co-opt independently organized projects by supporters like Stanley.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, I think even the most partisan Republican has to give Dean an 11," said Larry Purpuro, who coordinated the Republicans' e.GOP Project in 2000. "He's truly made it a platform for people to do a whole lot of things. It's not just a couple of gimmicks."
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"Dean is doing both of those times ten, plus he is adding a number of dimensions," says Phil Noble, a Democratic political consultant who runs PoliticsOnline in Charleston, S.C.
Pretty good for someone who didn't know much about technology before this campaign.
Joe Trippi did, however. Dean's campaign manager, Trippi moved to Silicon Valley as a teen, studied aeronautical engineering and had advised high-tech firms like Progeny Linux Systems.
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By treating the Internet as integral and not an afterthought, Trippi says, the campaign returns to the people the power taken away by television, which he calls a concentrated information source that benefits big money.
While most candidates' Web sites are basic -- letting supporters volunteer, donate, get newsletters -- Dean's was the first to post a frequently updated Web journal, called a blog, that lets visitors provide the campaign with valuable feedback.
"It creates a continuous stream of information," said Steven Schneider, co-founder of the research site politicalweb.info. "It creates an energy" that gives volunteers a feeling of ownership in the campaign.
Dean's use of the Internet has:
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* Spurred donations, averaging $53, over four days in late July that totaled more than half a million dollars, outdoing the $300,000 collected by Vice President Dick Cheney at a $2,000-a-plate fund-raiser.
* Brought Dean supporters together in coffee shops and bars across the country with the help of Meetup.com. What began in February as unsanctioned gatherings has morphed into monthly meetings, with Dean and his representatives attending.
* Encouraged the campaign to dabble with wireless and Internet video, alerting supporters on cell phones of upcoming television appearances and creating a TV-like site with ads and footage from major events.
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There's still no telling whether the early Dean support will inspire votes in the primaries and caucuses next spring.
Analysts say he'll still need some traditional campaigning like more television ads, and he'll need to win over traditional Democratic constituencies.
"If he sits on his laurels and thinks, `I'm the high-tech candidate this time,' and doesn't do anything else, it doesn't get him anywhere," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. "At the end of the day, the real compact between a candidate and the voter is what happens in the voting booth, not what happens at the Meetup site."
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-digital-dean,0,4560405.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines
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