WASHINGTON — Super Tuesday isn’t just draining campaigns of much-needed money and challenging their organizational mettle. It also is turning out to be a big test of the reach and power of the Internet, campaign aides say.
“We can only buy so much TV time. We can only physically go to so many states. So we need to rely on the Internet to get our message out and engage with our supporters,” said Christian Ferry, deputy campaign manager for Republican Sen. John McCain.
For months, candidates have posted hundreds of videos on their YouTube channels, created profiles on social-networking sites and revamped their websites.
Independent of the campaigns, supporters have rallied online to mobilize, donate money and build buzz around candidates, from long-shot Republican Rep. Ron Paul, whose candidacy has been largely fueled by his rock-star status on the Internet, to Sen. Barack Obama, who easily trumps fellow Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in online popularity.
Obama set an online record, raising more than $28 million in January. But the Web is about more than just raising money. It has become a force multiplier, aides said, more fully integrated in the whole campaign operation and affecting each of its facets: fundraising, communications, research and field organizing.
It doesn’t supplant traditional door- to-door canvassing, as proved by the results in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, relatively small states where on-the-ground organization was as crucial as ever. But for Tuesday’s contests, when 24 states vote, the Web is the easiest and cheapest way to reach supporters.
To Joe Trippi, who spearheaded Howard Dean’s 2004 online strategy and served as senior adviser to former Sen. John Edwards before he dropped out of this year’s race, the difference cannot be overestimated.
“Four years ago, we had pretty primitive tools. We had MeetUp, and that was it. Folks on MeetUp got together all across the country, but we at the campaign headquarters didn’t know what they did,” Trippi said. “Now, with Google Maps, people can pinpoint where they are. They can pinpoint their polling places. They can . . . get voting lists and hit the ground. And the campaign can know all of this.”
It has been a year of experimentation on the Internet, all with one goal in mind: translating online enthusiasm to offline results.
Peter Daou, Clinton’s Internet director, said the strategy depends on the candidate’s needs at a specific time.
Clinton’s early use of YouTube, notably her “Sopranos” spoof, was an effort to show her lighter side. Tonight, hours before polls open, she will hold a national interactive town-hall meeting that will be streamed on her website.
Republican Mitt Romney’s online features, including a customized peer- to-peer robo-call, have been singled out for their sophistication. But for most of last year, more eyes were going to sites for Paul and for Mike Huckabee, who has a loyal following among Christian evangelical bloggers.
Mindy Finn, Romney’s chief online strategist, said traffic to Romney’s site last month increased tenfold since the site began in January 2007.
“Ultimately, our online popularity comes down to Mitt Romney himself,” Finn said. “. . . We’ve built what we can. It’s up to him to excite voters.”
